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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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