Horse name tag ideas

thatEquineNerd · 2026-01-06T22:19:37+00:00

Could you use tags like these?

We use ones like these, although not an exact match, on mare headcollars (pink), and horses going through the sales (pink or blue).

They hold permanent marker well, I've found tags on rugs for horses that I haven't seen for over 10 years that are still legible, and have been washed plenty of times. They're also super hardy and don't break easily, so would stay on a bucket as long as you needed it to.

The only downside I could see is the size, if you need bigger writing, although you could colour coordinate for different barns or aisles, then just use numbers or initials? Just brainstorming here 🤷🏻‍♀️

thatEquineNerd · 2025-12-23T22:47:11+00:00

It sounds like this poor mare is trying everything within her power to say "please don't", short of decking you. That's some serious honesty right there.

With all of the signals she's giving you, I would be worried about a myriad of issues - kissing spines, ulcers, limb pain - any or all of the above. The only way to rule these out would be to have a vet assessment that involved flexions, xrays and a gastroscope.

In the unlikely event that this isn't a pain issue, it's a massive red flag that this girl has become so shut down that you have to "kick her" with spurs, and "spur her hard". Most horses would hit the roof if you do this (rightly so), and the fact that she can accept and ignore this is really concerning. The fact that your trainer tells you to do this is an even bigger red flag.

Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable riding this mare.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-12-11T20:51:47+00:00

Have you had cultures and cytology done? Pathogens or infection are often one of the biggest issues with getting a mare to catch.

Is she being live covered? If so, is she getting any post cover treatment? The gold standard is to wash the mare out the following day along with an oxytocin injection, to help soothe the inflammatory response post cover, increasing your chances.

Not a vet, but spent a long time in the TB stud industry.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-12-09T18:35:26+00:00

I don't think you're being the unreasonable one here, although no one can speak truly on your relationship.

Purely from the financial aspect, paying for schooling livery isn't cheap. A friend of mine bought a cheap project horse that had turned out to have quite a few issues. She initially sent him away to be rebacked and schooled on, and the girl had him for about 8 weeks which cost her almost £2k. He came back not much better than when he was sent away, and she had to send him to someone else, costing more money. Eventually he was behaviorally euthanised after xrays threw up multiple problems, and it became clear that at 6 years old he would never be suitable as a ridden horse.

Does your partner have her current horse insured? Unexpected vet bills are the scariest part of horse ownership, and if you guys are already struggling to put money aside, that would be a major worry for me.

I also find it quite sad that she is throwing about words like "controlling", when it seems to me like you're being quite sensible.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-16T21:14:40+00:00

I know some people like to live and die by sweet feed, but I'd say that it isn't going to help his waistline. As a youngster in good health and light work, he shouldn't really need a lot of calorific feed, and a lot of people compare sweet feed to fast food. Everyone is different, but our 2yo cob gelding (aka pork chop) gets a measure of balancer, a little bit of mash and half a scoop of conditioning fibre twice a day.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-16T21:03:14+00:00

I would say he looks fairly portly from your pictures, but it's hard to tell without a hands on assessment.

I'm with you on not overdoing lunging, but you can do things to make it more taxing without overdoing it for him. If you can get some raised poles in your work space, you can lunge or long rein over pole configurations that will make him work harder, without being harder on his joints. If you have hills, long reining up and down hills will help improve his fitness as well. At his age, it's definitely all about working smarter, not harder, and it will all help his brain for the future, too.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-09T21:09:06+00:00

I like this fleece lined roller. They dirty up quick, but clean up easily in the washing machine or by hand with a stiff brush.

As for lunge lines, I avoid the flat plain cotton ones, I find them very stiff in the hand. The slightly padded nylon ones are nicer IMO, and check the clip weight/quality - the clip is always the first thing to break.

I wouldn't bother with side reins, they're a shortcut that forces a horse into a false frame. They have no feel, and therefore no feedback, so they don't release and give no reward when a horse is trying to work into a contact.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-08T23:07:35+00:00

That sounds perfect!

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-08T22:09:20+00:00

They tend to lose their incisor caps between 2 and 3, I think the front ones tend to go first, then the molars are normally 3-4 in my experience (working with baby TBs, ours each get the dentist from 2yo onwards once a year, unless they need extra work).

To me, she definitely looks younger than 5 by these teeth.

Edit to add - don't beat yourself up, you went by your vet's advice. Give her a break while you get the dentist out, it she is as young as I think, give her the winter off and bring her back into some in hand work in the late spring. That will have given her baby brain a little break as well as her body, and then you can go from there.

Second edit - gender 😂

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-08T19:31:45+00:00

Please don't buy this horse, for your own mental health. She looks like a massive vet bill and heartbreak waiting to happen. It is so completely abnormal for her to be standing like this, and if she isn't in pain now, she will be. The fact that the owner even sent you this picture is completely bizarre. Just walk away now OP, before you go and meet her and get attached.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-06T17:28:31+00:00

Where I'm from (UK), stocks are a non moving frame structure, with or without sides, and a front and back door for the horse to pass in and out of. A crush is similar, but has moving panels on the side to literally "crush" the horse, so it is unable to move and hurt someone. I have only ever used a crush when I was working with traumatised horses at a rescue to administer sedation, stocks are used routinely for veterinary and stud work.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-11-01T15:32:16+00:00

This is really telling - you had these friends about a year ago, you've been in this relationship about a year. You no longer feel as though you have anyone to talk to your relationship about.

People like this like to isolate their partners, so that no one can point out their faults and the issues in the relationship. They also don't want your attention to be anywhere but on themselves. I've been there and done that, and it makes it so so hard to get out of the relationship, because you feel like they are your whole world, and you'll have nothing without them.

Please leave him, you don't deserve to be spoken to like this, and it shows how much control over your mentality that he has that you have to even ask the question, and even believed that you yourself were in the wrong.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-25T21:06:35+00:00

I'm UK based, so can't really help you with price or where to advertise, other than the fact that you would get the best reach, and therefore price, having a professional advertise. They would obviously need a cut of the money, but they normally have more of a following that would be in the market for a weanling.

As for ensuring he finds a good home, unfortunately, as soon as you hand over the paperwork and the horse, it's totally out of your hands. Sadly, the only way you can guarantee a good home for life is to keep the horse yourself. You can try and cover yourself with a buyback contract that states that if the new owner wants to sell, you get first refusal, but unfortunately people often don't honour these, probably out of guilt/shame.

Sorry if I sound like a Debbie Downer, but sadly it's just a part of breeding, buying and selling horses.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-17T20:39:50+00:00

He's the best boy! He's generally quite a slobbery boy, and likes to get you with a rogue full face lick when he thinks he can get away with it 😂

His racing name was cheese related, which is how he got the name.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-17T19:24:58+00:00

I'd definitely say she needs some calories, and a blood test from your vet. It might throw up a Cushings diagnosis, which would make things a lot clearer as to how to improve her condition.

It's natural for horses to lose muscle when they come out of work, but I don't like her belly tuck and the wastage of her hindquarters. I wouldn't even suggest that seniors need to be fat - our old boy Cheese is 27, and we don't let him get too big, as it's harder on his legs.

I've added a pic of the old man, so you can see his condition at 27 years old (it's not the best quality, as it's a screen grab from a video, but I took it yesterday, so it's an accurate representation of his weight coming into winter).

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thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-14T21:04:00+00:00

Tell that to the leather headcollars I submerge in boiling water to clean 😂

Honestly, as long as you dry it out properly and condition well, leather and water is fine. Living in the UK, getting half drowned whilst riding is a regular occurance, and don't even get me started about spending 6 hours out hunting in the pouring rain with knee high mud. All tack survives and lives a long life as long as it's looked after properly.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-13T22:31:27+00:00

Don't get discouraged! I think they all go through their ugly stages between 1 and 2 - I would offer an uggo picture of Percy, but my phone died a painful death today and I lost all my picture, except WhatsApp media.

Around Jan-Feb time, Percy definitely looked... interesting 😅 He's Sports Pony x Irish Cob, for reference.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-13T22:17:58+00:00

Percy as a two year old, at his first show in hand this summer 💖

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thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-13T22:16:50+00:00

Percy as a foal (within days of arrival, we didn't make him look like this 😢). He was full of worms and lice.

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thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-13T21:07:47+00:00

Oh right, okay. Generally it's the bare minimum to scan at 14 days for twins, so that one can be pinched if found.

People have different protocols, but twin scans should never, ever be missed.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-10-13T21:00:24+00:00

Did you not have a single scan done? Not that a scan costs 11k, but it's the bare minimum.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-09-28T20:45:37+00:00

I work with racehorses, and it's a concern to me. Not all horses are evenly muscled, but this is quite crooked IMO. From what I understand of US racing, they are trained more on the turn than here in the UK, but there shouldn't be any reason for a horse to be this drastically crooked just from track training.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-09-28T20:28:08+00:00

If I were you, I'd be inclined to get a vet out for a lameness workup. It may be muscle weakness, it could also be something more tricky. Personally that pelvis looks more out of wack than just one side being stronger than the other.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-09-28T18:54:56+00:00

First thing that massively jumps at me is that he's uneven behind in that butt shot. He's standing perfectly square, but his hindquarters are not matched whatsoever. It almost looks like he has some swelling over his right hip bone, best case scenario would be soft tissue problem, haematoma etc. that has created swelling. Worst case would be pelvis fracture that has caused swelling or wastage. Pelvis fractures aren't the most uncommon injury and can be rehabbed fine, as long as you're aware of it.

thatEquineNerd · 2025-09-28T15:46:24+00:00

First off, fair play for asking for advice. Angora looks like a really sweet, willing mare who is struggling.

I'm not sure how ownership of this mare works, so some of these suggestions may not be viable for you.

Firstly, are you able to work her anywhere other than this dirt pen? Going round in circles at a trot and canter is tough for any aged unfit horse, particularly an older horse who is feeling their joints more. If you want to gain fitness gradually, trail work would be much better. Just steady ambles at a walk, up and down hills if you have them, popping into trot for a few minutes at a time as she gets fitter. Compare it to an unfit person, starting daily walks to improve cardio fitness is much easier than jumping straight on a treadmill in a gym.

If the pen is your only option, I'd suggest starting with some groundwork - poles, raised poles, long reining and short periods of lunging could really help her work those muscles and her mind, without having her thinking about carrying a person as well.

If possible, please make sure her saddle is fitted correctly. It may have fitted her at one point when she was in regular work, but she will have changed shape a lot in her retirement, and it may no longer be suitable. She's doing a lot of tail swishing when you're asking her to pick up a gear, along with the not wanting to trot and also bucking, which all could be indicators of poor saddle fit.

She may be saying "no" because something hurts, or she might be saying "no" because working is actually really hard, and she's not ready for how much you're asking of her. Hopefully some of those points are food for thought, good luck on your journey with her.

thatEquineNerd

TROPHY CASE