Crazy Cool

It was long overdue, but Wassachusetts finally has a new (and enormously improved) horse show name. For those of you not familiar with this bizarre naming ritual, take note: Horse people are an odd sort when it comes to choosing a name for their mounts, and when it came to dubbing Wassachusetts with his own fancy-schmancy show name, well, honestly, I had an easier time naming my children.

Initially, I was happy to keep the name Wassachusetts.  The name was so strange and awkward that it gave me a little giggle every time someone was forced to say it.  At our second horse show, the announcer stumbled over the name like she had a mouthful of marbles; it seriously lightened my mood and alleviated my bad case of nerves as I entered the show ring.

What I hated was that each time Wassachusetts was muttered either at a show or in casual conversation at the barn, I found that I was the only one who got a kick out of my horse's eccentric appellation.

For months, I played the name game with friends.  We tried names with literary or personal meaning and even tried to find witty or funny names, but nothing seemed to stand out.  Finally, I gave thought to Wassachuett's personality.  There is no doubt that he is a very masculine horse with his own independent thoughts about how things should be done.  I coupled this seed of thought with my personal preference to find him a name buried in some great work of literature.  Then it occurred to me. Whose writing would best represent my manly horse?  Why, Ernest Hemingway, of course.

Ernest Hemingway

It didn't take long for a name to come bubbling up from Papa's great body of work.  I'd finally found a name worthy of my fantastic beast.  From here on out, he would be known in the show ring as Romero.  Now, if you happen to be a little disappointed in my choice, hold your horses - pun intended - before forming a final opinion.

In "The Sun Also Rises," Hemingway introduces the reader to a young bullfighter named Pedro Romero.  He is confident, dignified and unwavering in his dedication to the art of bullfighting, just as I like to think that my newly dubbed, four-legged Romero will be committed to his job as a hunter-jumper.  Oh yes, and two other attributes that my Romero and Hemingway's hero share:  They are both strong- willed and handsome.

Curious to know more about Hemingway's character, I lost myself in a trail of Googled information on the novel, bullfighting and even stumbled across a short bio and picture of a famous matador named Pedro Romero from Ronda, Spain.

Pedro Romero
1754-1839

The bullfighter's swoony, debonaire gaze captured by the painter is how I would picture Hemingway's hero and, in turn, is the human face I might put to Romero-the-Horse.

So, good-bye Wassachusetts and hello Romero.  Ole!