Q: How do I Remember Horses' Names?

Posted by Laura Thompson Sep 8, 2009

A Suite101 reader asks:

"I just started working at a horse barn and was wondering if you had tips for remembering the horses, when it comes to feeding and things like that, I'm so afraid I'll mix up their feed or something like that. Please Help, I'm Desperate."

Believe it or not, I had this same fear when I started working at my barn in Houston at the age of fourteen, and it was terrifying. There were more than 75 horses and I was responsible not only for feeding them, but also for bringing them in from the pasture.

My first tip is to tell your boss about your concern. It might not seem professional, but he or she will actually respect you more for being honest. No one can be expected to learn the names and appearances of all the horses in just a week or two of employment. However, many stable owners forget this and will overlook it if you don't bring it up.

The best way to learn the horses' names depends on how you feed. Do you mix grain in advance or do you throw grain in the paddocks or stalls? If you mix grain, I recommend writing all the horses' names down on a piece of paper or a white board, then recording what they eat next to their names.

Eventually it will become second nature, but the goal is to attach names to quantities of grain in your mind. You might also have to add supplements or medications to feed for certain horses, so the stable owner should understand your concern.

My other piece of advice is to focus on learning the horses' names for the next two weeks. Every time you walk a horse out to his or her paddock or toss grain in his or her stall, look at the horse carefully and attach his name to a physical characteristic.

For example: Socks is the chestnut with four white socks and a star; Genius is the bay gelding with a scar on his right shoulder. And so on.

The most important thing, however, is to write it all down until you have it memorized. If the stable owner has a problem with this, then you've probably found the wrong horse job.

Good luck!

Got a question? If you have a horse question you'd like Laura Thompson to answer, e-mail her at horses@suite101.com and she'll answer in an upcoming blog post.