Hand Gallop Blog Hop: What's In A Name?

I've never done a blog hop, so I figured I'd give it a try! Here goes nothing!

What's the origin of your horse's show name and barn name?

If I do show the big gray thoroughbred,  I will use his registered name. To me that is part of his history and it is one of my many favorite parts about him.

Independent George

With me being from a family of huge Seinfeld fans this name absolutely cracks me up. If you look on his Jockey Club papers, originally his name was going to be "Independent Ridge". His mamma's name was Classic Ridge and he from a very early age was quite independent from what I have found out about him.  But someone decided that the name didn't fit him so they changed it to Independent George after George Costanza on Seinfeld. 

I've even saw an online discussion from when George was racing and someone had said that at one time they wanted to name a horse Relationship George and have the two race... but everyone knows what Relationship George does to Independent George. This name fits his personality to a T. He's quirky.
Clearly, when looking for a barn name for him, I didn't stray to far from his registered name and he goes by "George". It's what his people have called him his whole life. I sometimes call him "Georgous" because lets be honest here... he is absolutely gorgeous! Also when you say things like "Tonight I plan on going out to ride George" around non horse people, you get some pretty darn weird looks...

The rest of the horses at our place don't have papers so we just threw out names until we found names that we liked. Duke, Cash and Princess Rainbow Sparkles.

But even though he is long gone, I loved the story behind Piney's registered name. Piney's JC name was Pine Bend which upon talking to his breeders in Arizona about his name, told me he was named after their very good friend's oil refinery in Minnesota. In the office at the refinery they have Piney's win picture when he broke his maiden. We all thought it was pretty cool that his last races were run just a few miles from his namesake, when he had spent most of his life on the west coast.

If we are going to go WAY back... and we are because I love horses names and the stories around them. We will come to the namesake of this blog

Good Time To Review

That was the registered name of my very first horse. The palomino AQHA gelding that taught me more about horse ownership than any horse I've had since. His barn name was Charlie Yellow. I'm thinking that his previous owners named him Charlie... as in "Good Time Charlie". But when my old boss bought him he already had two OTHER horses named Charlie. He was a strong believer in not changing the name a horse came with. So we had Charlie Red a bright red sorrel, Charlie Brown a drabby brown gelding that I barely even remember because he was just so blah, and then Charlie Yellow a palomino. Over the years his name sort of evolved to just Yellow or as my friend and I affectionately called him "Lello" 

When we got Cash, I started just calling him "Yellow Horse" but my husband thought that it would evolve into me calling him "Yellow". I get reminded every time I call him "Yellow Horse" that his name is Cash... not Yellow. 

But clearly, I have a type...

Yellow

Cash

Fall rides... (mostly pictures in this post)

As much as we don't want to admit it.. Winter is coming. Which is why we are trying to fit in as much riding as we can before the -40 degree weather with 160mph winds get here and then stay here forever.
Three weeks ago... Yeah I know I could have written about it last week or the week before... but I got lazy. I'm pretty much burned out all of the time. Like i have no extra energy ever. So much fun feeling like crap! Anywho! Three weeks ago we loaded up Duke and Cash and headed out to Hankinson, North Dakota to meet up with some friends who were camping out there with their horses. We had planned on camping out there with them, but with our dogs it makes it kind of difficult to go anywhere over night. Our trailer is not a living quarters trailer. So the tack room where we stay is pretty crowded with all of our tack, all of our stuff and then to try and fit 3 dogs in... yeah it doesn't work. Not to mention, my oldest Cocker Spaniel gets really howl-y when he gets left behind. And I didn't want other campers complaining about a dog singing the song of his people all day long. So we just loaded up and headed out for a late afternoon ride.
Having never been riding in the Hankinson Hills... it showed. We got really lost at first and kind of just wandered around in a large cattle pasture. But then we found the way back to the trail and it was a really nice ride. i LOVE fall riding. So enjoy some pictures of  the Hankinson Hills and little yellow ears. 

And then last Sunday we loaded up the horses again and headed out to Fort Ransom to do some more riding. It was the coldest ride yet this year, but to be honest...I'd rather it be cooler than super hot. I don't handle high temperatures very well. I love riding in Fort Ransom. The trails aren't super challenging, but they aren't just flat and boring. There are lots of switchbacks, and hills. I was surprised that the leaves hadn't changed too much and most of the trees were still pretty green.
We met up with my friend and two of her friends who ride mules. They were happy that our horses didn't have a problem with the mules because apparently, not all horses get along with mules. But it's always fun to have good company along the trail. I've met them a few times actually, but I don't think I've ridden with them before. So without further delay... more pictures!

I was super stylish and my equitation was amazing.... But I am riding a cute pony.

I had the farrier pull Cash's shoes, because I wasn't thinking clearly, and thought we were done riding for the year... He was a bit tender on the gravel-y parts.

So If any of you friends want to come visit me someday... I have plenty of awesome riding places to take you to! North Dakota isn't all boring!!