We have about 30 horses, most of these are retired and too old to ride so they get put up into the 'retirement paddock'. Mr B calls it other names that I am not willing to mention on here but I like to think it's a special place and a reward for all the long hard days of work they have done for us over the years. I like to call it the retirement paddock because there is lots of grass and your not disturbed by the occasional chasing from the dogs.
Talking about dogs, we have 15 work dogs.....some really good, some just OK but everyone is given a fair chance. It's a big effort to keep up with all the names and it's really funny when you are out mustering and the cattle are misbehaving and the dogs think they know what they are doing but are just being more hindrance and Mr B's father is trying to watch the cattle and keep them in line and yell at dogs at the same time. I have heard him yell at dogs that aren't even out mustering that day because you have to go through the list of names until you find the one you want. Poor things their must be some burning ears on some days.
This brings me to 'Whats in a name'. When Mr B & I name our animals we try and give them names of things, people or events that are happening the day they are born or the day we get them. Since having Miss M & Miss S it's getting a bit harder and occasionally we end up with names like Ruby, Petunia, Rose and those types of girly names.
This is 'Ekka", one of Mr B's work horses. He is HUGE!! With Miss M standing beside him he looks even bigger and has hooves the size of dinner plates. 'Ekka" came about because he was born during the time the Brisbane Royal Show was on which is also known as the 'Ekka'. A few other horses that we have are 'Indy' - born when the Indy car race was on, 'Cricket' born on the night of our local ICPA Cricket fun day, 'Vinnie' born on the day that Princess Mary christened and announced the twins names and 'Oakey' named when we bought her and the old guy couldn't remember her name and he lived on a property with the name Oakey in it.
Onto dogs...I will only give a few examples because we could be here all day. 'Alvin' is Mr B's wolfhound and of course he was named after the movie 'Alvin and the Chipmonks'. He suits that name and it really does sound like that when you yell it. 'Kirby' named after the people we bought him off and 'Billa' named after a property where we got him from.
This is 'Nell'. She was named after the children's book Sail Away written by Mem Fox about 2 dogs who went on a sailing trip to go to the Americas Cup. At the time we got Nell and her brother so we had Skip and Nell and it was Miss M's favourite book.
So how do you name your family Pets? Do you have a system like us or are we the only weird ones who think too hard about a name.
5 comments:
I love your system for naming the animals..we just settle on names we like, that look right for the animal too..so we have Kara, Max and Ellie..all dogs. I do not know why Princess Mary would call that little guy Prince Vince???
LOVE your naming system, Angie! I'll have to do that from now on. We've always hand this stupid way of naming where we sit and stare at the poor animal and decide what name 'they look like'. It is a very profound process and yet it never ends up being too deep. Our lovely Kelpie cross has a sleek, pitch black coat and so when we bought her and sat down to 'see if she looked like anything' she ended up being called 'Poppy'... like a poppy seed. LOL
The horses Minnie & Pilot came to their new home with their names and being so befitting stuck with them.
Tumbles our gorgeous border collie had been lovingly named by the sweetest little boy from the farm where we picked up the pup(who was heart broken to think this puppy may have another name) but we tried a few names, but to no avail, Tumbles was the one she came to.
The Hens - Rosie, Henny, Caitlyn and Zarah were all names that immediately popped into the B's minds when we brought "the girls" home!
I think the animals all come with a name, its' a matter of tuning in and working out what it is :)
Mel xox
last year we had a wedge of poddies - the first of which jumped out the back of my wagon, busting the window, so he got dubbed Jumpin Jack; the rest of them ended up being "table condiments" after the kids called a black one Vegemite, a white one Salt and a red one Jam (and as we had six in total, we continued the theme and had Pepper, Mustard and Vinegar)Horses and dogs are a little harder... (recent dog names are Sally, Ruby and Millie! just because we have to yell them a bit, and they sound better than "here Killer or Ripper"!!)
The lastest lot of pups were named by the kids however they did seem to put some thought into it. There is Smudge who has red smudges all over. Tails named because it had no hair on the end of its tail (the name no longer applies), Spot who is named for the large black spot on its rump. Spot by popular demand has been renamed Blue I however out of habit continue to call him Spot and he still responds.
We recently had a few calves that stood out come through the yards which the kids have named on their way through the branding process. There was Evil Eyes the Brahman cross with a black face and evil temprement, Dizzy the blind calf who wandered in cicles and PomPom the very fluffy red and white calf. Somehow I can't see the names sticking.
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