Horse and pony names

[FellaZephyr]

A fun thread really. I was thinking about this on a long drive this morning. I learned to ride in the seventies and a yard was not complete without a Misty, a Fella, a Shadow, a Blue and a Prince.
Fast forward, and every horse in a yard of eight where i keep mine have 'human' names ie Arthur, Bob, Tom, Jasmine, Henry, Mary.
I learnt to ride on Hawk, moved onto Flurry, and worked with Zephyr and Solo when I was younger. It seems horse names go in fashion just like baby names.
I'd love to hear the names of horses you started out on, and the kind of names belonging to horses you know now
I've got dozens of names of horses I've known, but I'm curious to know if the human name thing is just round my way!
Ok I'm adding Flossy, Blossom and Laddie from my 70s childhood.

Rosie, Jigsaw, Domino, Archie, Alfie, Bertie, Blue, Tinker, Marmite, Sandy, Beauty

Poppy, Ben, Star, Lasagne, Freddie, Buttons & Elsa

Recent, or older?

I love the name Lasagne!

I also knew a Buttons.

80's school ponies and liveries at two yards:

flash, sparky, summer, may, June, cliquot, Oscar, Prince, pepper, Rosie, dandy, Tommy, Ringo, Donald, blue, apache, Apollo, velvet, flicka, sultan, scirocco, goldie.

God I can't believe I've forgotten half the others names. Shocking. I thought they were ingrained but clearly not.

Prince, Amber, Bobby (Grey Constable), Geordie, (Major) Tom, Ptarmigan, Aztec, Cassius.

I learned to ride on a lovely huge gentle grey called Jonathan in the 60s.

Okay, Stan the man, Prince, Utrillo, Topaze - my first five all still going strong.

When i was learning about databases in the 90s I did used the names and colours of all the horses I'd ever known. I'm going to attempt to remember them!

Aww perfect! I met a dog called Ian the other day. That made me laugh!

Great thread!!!

Early rides: Snowy, Cocoa, Duke, Copper Coin, Lady… moved on to Doric, Kai, Chloe, Amicus, Silver, Fear (short for Never Fear, her sire was a well-known racehorse Never Say Die).
But my favourite name for a horse is from a TikTok vid that went viral. It features Scottish lady scolding her horse for taking an unusually inert nap.. by shouting “Stephen! I thought you were dead!” (cue Stephen looking up sheepishly then resuming his snooze).

Your thread just brought back happy memories to me. It’s been a tough weekend and you helped me smile. Thanks 🥹😊

I am very glad to hear this 🦄 ✨ Ed to say sorry about tough weekend though!

My current horse is called Barry.
Previous horses have been: Sovereign, Mini Duet, Thomas, Bridie, Barney and Emma.

Learning to ride in the 80s - champagne, star, Kerry, prince, van and Emma.

Welsh trail riding holidays at large yard which had a horse for each letter of the alphabet in the 90s - warrior, yaspy and x.

More recent favourites - king, Percy, Bertie and pixi.

I think for ponies something which relates to their colour is cute but horses suit human names more.

What lovely memories this has stirred up! Learning to ride in the 60s and 70s it was Sandy, Ranger, Gaylight, Rocky, Minstrel and the rather terrifying Eskimo. In the eighties Kizzy was popular for mares and geldings along with Jigsaw, Gareth (welsh cob), Bessie and Cairo. Most recently Ged, Comanche (yes really) Louis, Dave and Lily. What a lovely forgiving lot they all were.

I currently own an Alfie.
Previous horses include an Eli, Jack, Monster, Sugar & Pudding.

90’s riding school ponies that I can remember ….. Bobby, Lana, Whisper, Tammy, Magic, Ben G, Tom, Lucky, Ali, Henry, Red, Beau, Jackamo, Puzzle, Whizz.

Mid 90's and 00's Brandy, Woody x2, Stanley, Taffeta, Flicka x2, Lily x2, Tilly, Mickey, Sox, Coral were the ponies/horses I grew up with.

Now I know Saffy, Flo, Mouse, Gracie, Mojito, Beanie, Barbie and Candy.

To your terrifying Eskimo @Gedsmum J raise you Pharoah who's very name filled me with terror when I was to be put on him as a nervous 9 year old. He had a very crafty corkscrew buck, and small children would fall off him as readily as autumn leaves! Probably would not be allowed in a modern riding school! But up we'd all get anyway!
Our Snowy liked to deliberately stand on human feet ( a most calculating character he was) The sweetest pony I remember was the appropriately named Sunny.

The first pony I learned to ride on was called Merrylegs! Loved her so much.
Then Brandy, Misty, Shadow.

Ha ha @FellaZephyr I wonder if Eskimo and Pharoah were related! Ranger was our best one for standing on small toes. He liked to turn as he stepped of just to really grind your foot into the concrete. I am sure the riding schools are more cautious now but we all survived and learned a little respect in the process. Sunny sounds a delight. Does anyone remember the hard hats being held on with a bit of elastic?

Is Elsa an old or new name (thinking Frozen here). My mare is an Elsa. There is a gelding in the field next door called Olaf.

My friend and I jokingly renamed my horse Ginger (she is chestnut, the field companion Black Beauty (she was very dark bay) and the electric bike that friend would ride to accompany me on a hack was Merrylegs (bike is white).

I used to go out hacking and would go and get said horse ready (Ginger) and ask my husband to go and grab Merrylegs and tack her up so my friend could grab her and we would go out for a hack (this meant go and get the bike from the garage and check tyres were blown up etc and adjust the seat for my tiny friend who was about 4 inches shorter than me) We are in our 50's...

Yes! I learnt to ride in the 80s/90s on Dusty, Doddy, Snowy, Candy, Sparky, Bunty and indeed Misty and Prince!
My DS is now learning on Tommy, Dolly and Danny. I’ve definitely noticed the same with more recent horses I’ve met having human names. Including Lucy, Libby, Sammy and Martin!