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.

Always number 2? Was it the place at the hostel?

It was, I spent two lovely holidays there trail riding from hostel to hostel. You have reminded me that Warrior didn’t like to go first and as he was so good in all other ways this wasn’t pushed. Then one day towards the end of the holiday we were ready first and I asked him to lead and he just did it. Did you holiday there @Brunelofbrio ?

Happy days @ConnyComesHome

From my riding school in the 90s:

Rusty, Minty, Poppy, Monty, Flash, Prince, Twinks, Flicker, Jubal, Jubilee, Rainbeau, Ginger, Barney, Oliver, Zena, Trix

The first dun pony I rode was Dundee. I love duns. Never met one that wasn't really workmanlike. Warrior is a good name for a dun. I remember The Done Thing from my eventing days (Melanie or Madeleine Gurdon?) There were other horses with 'dun' names but I can't remember any just now.

If I say Mortimer, Moneyman, Mr Moth, Bob, Tyler, Sovereign would anyone recognise where I rode in the early 80s?

I have just read the whole thread again. We all loved our riding school ponies so much. Happy memories! Things were so different then. In some ways better for ponies and little riders and in some ways much worse. But on the whole there wasn't all the excessive tack, and they lived out in big happy herds, didn't all get laminitis at the drop of a hat. But saddle sores seemed to be quite common as fitting them wasn't really a priority. Just musing really.

My childhood riding school ponies were all named after alcohol, Budwiser, Sherry, Whisky are the ones i can remember. Budwiser was everyone's favourite

I was just thinking the other day that it's nice you don't see saddle sores any more - used to be a very common thing (and concern) when looking at a new horse to buy

The saddles I learnt on in the 80s were very old and definitely not designed with woman’s comfort in mind. I was sore never mind the ponies.

@ConnyComesHome thanks for reminding me about the ponies. What years did you ride Warrior? ( He was there for a long time…)

There's always been a mix, but it definitely seems to have moved more towards human names now. On our large livery yard those with non-human names are a minority. Whereas back in the 80s those human names were a minority.

But then human names have become more varied. We have had ponies and people with the same name and it isn't just Jack/Sam/Molly/Ben but things that wouldn't have been considered normal names in the 80s like Sky, Ebony, Beau, Angel etc.

My first ever sit on a horse was on what I remember to be a HUGE grey horse called Bangles (although she was probably just a big pony - I wasnt much more than a toddler!) Then later in the 1980's I learnt to ride on a Highland pony called Pudding and my other two favourites at the riding school were Starlight (black pony with a star obvs) and Cindy (a speedy palomino pony).

I worked in a riding school for years. The owner would pick a theme every so often i.e cars, food, authors. It was also a busy dealing yard so we had a lot of fun. Memorably the two shitlands I named Cheese and Onion. Onion was ofc sold promptly and we just had Cheese left behind.

Fave hunt horse I've come across - Bathtub. The lady who owned him told me she bought him over the phone when she heard his name. "How could you not buy the horse called Bathtub?" 😁😁

Quite a smart showjumper called Laptop.

Oh I've probably got loads but forgotten them all. This thread has been a great read.

As for the 80s riding school ponies I learned on:

Cupid
Spangles
Bambi
Dainty
Foggy
Minstrel
Pernod
Dizzy
Melody
Tamzin
Promise
Stompy
Hooligan
Gaylord
Twinkle
Panache

If anyone went to the same riding school as me I've completely outed myself 😀

Was hoping I’d see a list from my old place, but not so far: Herbie, Rufus, Pippin, Conkers, Major, Bruin, Fozzie, Sandy, Ripon, Amos, Jasper, Popeye, Freddie, Solo, Rockie (Blue Rock), Tye, Tigger, Merlin….cant remember anymore.