Hank, and the History of Horses, Part 7

They called him Rain.

Rain...

I wasn't too keen on that name. A big strong guy like him should have a big strong name. I would always chuckle silently at the names of the two Belgians we'd see at the Breakfast on the Farm - Jim & Joe. Simple, strong, to the point names. Simple, strong, to the point horses. Nothing frilly, either in name or duty. They did their job, and did it well. I suppose if they had been named Moonbeam and Dweezle I may have never taken those wagon rides. Just wouldn't seem right.

So Rain needed a new name. I never gave much thought to the possibility that I'd have to name my new horse. I didn't have a cute name all lined up - I just thought the one he'd been given would suffice. But Rain was too granola for me. Was he a Jim? A Joe? Too early in our relationship to tell.

Not only did I need to find him a new barn name, but his proper name had to be chosen as well. Turns out old Rain had never been registered. His purchase included his breeders certificate, but no one got around to picking a name and sending in the few dollars it would take to officially register him with the APHA. So the daunting task of finding a proper name became mine, and I was a bit, well, daunted. I mean, look at these registered names that horses get: Man-O-War, Smart Chic Olena, Scotch Bar Time, Zippo Pine Bar, Mr. Ed. That's some catchy stuff. So now I'd have to do the same. Heck, I thought just a regular old name was gonna be tough.

A lot of these horses are named by making a crafty combination of their parent's names, so we started digging into his pedigree. His sire was Skyler Poco King. His dam was Hank's Spotted Babe. Ok. Now what? Nothing there seemed like it could be combined, twisted or distorted into anything that rolled off the tounge, like Zips Chocolate Chip. Hmmm.

Digging a little deeper we found that his grandsire was none other than Hank A Chief, the famous APHA stallion. He was big and stong. He looked like a Hank.

Hank. Strong. To the point.

We also read that Hank A Chief was owned by Hank Weiscamp, who was known to be extemely stubborn and thick headed. You either loved him or hated him.

So Hank it was.

I came up with Hank's Rainy Sky for his proper registered name. I know, it's still a little dreamy, but I wanted to incorporate his old name into the mix somehow, and this seemed to work well.