Hand Gallop Blog Hop: What’s in a name?

My horse’s registered name with the Jockey Club is Bohemian Spirit. I learned his name as I was filling out the paperwork the day I met and adopted him, and took it as a sign that this horse was meant to be mine. My first horse and true heart horse was named Bo. And the horse I learned to event on was Spirit. I really loved that his name contained both of these other horse’s names.

Before I even met him, I’d been brainstorming some names. I was thinking something like Ducati or another speed motorcycle reference since he was a racehorse and I thought my husband would enjoy it. I was also thinking some sort of inclusion of luck or gambling since he was in the HBO TV series Luck. However, any time I’ve picked out ideas for a name in advance of getting an animal, it’s never worked out.

Of course, he came with the perfect name. Bohemian fits his personality completely, and I show him under that name. I call him Hemie for short, and my heart does a little pitter-patter when people occasionally call him Bo.

My first horse Bo was an American Saddlebred 5-gaited show horse (although I never showed him), with registered name Welcome Challenge. I just love that name. It’s powerful and says “bring it on.” He had that attitude and that air, so it suited him perfectly. He came with the barn name Bo, which I spelled Beau for many years – french for handsome, which he certainly was.