So every year, once the last for sale baby of the year leaves on the trailer we try to fight off the melancholy by dreaming about the babies coming in the spring/summer. One of the best ways to dream is to brainstorm name ideas, themes, etc...
The first year we went with a music theme. This fit Cher really well since her name is Dutch Rock N Roll. In hindsight, I'm not sure why we thought we needed to keep the name theme for Fi's baby, but oh well. Berry Sweet Rhythm (Boogie) and Berry Sweet Beat (Styx) were a couple of cute names for a couple of very cute colts.
The next year we decided to play off the parents' names for the babies. We had Berry Sweet Tea because his dad was Super Southern. What's more southern than sweet tea? We were told that a popular sweet tea brand is Milo, so Milo it was. The other colt that year was out of our mare named "Cookie", so he was called Berry Sweet Cookie and of course, Cookie Monster or Monster for a barn name. He has since been renamed Sid, did you know Cookie Monster's name was Sid?! I didn't either!
The next year was a hodgepodge for registered names but our barn names were all ice cream themed. Sophie named her baby, Berry Sweet Fantasy because it was a cross she had always dreamed of. She also picked the barn name "Scoopie" to go with the ice cream shaped mascot of her favorite fast food restaurant at the time, Culvers. I named my baby Berry Sweet Perfection, because, well - obviously, she is perfect. She was dubbed "Sundae" as in the sweet treat but everyone jokes that we shouldn't have named her Sundae when she was born on a Friday. Haha. (Speaking of haha - she was born on April Fools Day so we could have really had fun with that. But Perfection fits her, I don't regret that decision one bit.) The last baby of 2022 was Berry Sweet Guaranteed, again - another Fi baby named for the sire who was Guaranteed Equity. Keeping with the ice cream theme, this colt was "Milkshake".
We thought we were really on the ball this year because we had barn name theme picked out. We hadn't done a Disney theme in ages so we decided to pick a movie and name all the babies after characters from that movie. We picked a family favorite, "Lilo and Stitch". Registered names were a hodgepodge again. I read a great book with a true story about an inspirational horse named Jubilee so our first baby was Berry Sweet Jubilee. The second baby's name was a pick off our lengthly list of name ideas, Berry Sweet Celebrity. The third baby to arrive was Fi's baby. Again he was named for his sire, Hot Chocolate Hunter. Berry Sweet Chocolate it was. The last baby was China's. I could tell from the start that she was full of sass, so Shenanigans it was - Berry Sweet Shenanigans. Barn names were Lilo, Stitch, Nani and Jumba.
So what to do in 2024? We will only have 2 babies this spring so a movie theme would be pretty limited. In fact any theme would not really make sense with only two so what to do... what to do....
Then I had an idea. What if instead of naming the babies for a theme for the YEAR, each mare got her own theme? This idea is two fold. It helps with the naming debates AND it allows us to recognize, years later, who each baby's dam was. Yay! Idea! So let's see.... what theme makes sense for each mare?
Cher is easy. With her name being Dutch Rock N Roll, her babies need music themes. We have a collection of those to choose from; Berry Sweet Lyric, Berry Sweet Melody, Berry Sweet Superstar, Berry Sweet Harmony, Berry Sweet Gig, etc... so many music themed barn names to go with those registered names too; Lyric, Melody, Harmony, Tempo, Presley, etc... Cher was easy!
But what about Fi? Fi's babies have always been named for their sires with the exception of Styx. It was time Fi got some credit. Her name is Silver's Precious Lady and she is the sweetest unicorn pony. I decided that Fi's baby's shall forever be named sweet or inspirational type names; Berry Sweet Dreams, Berry Sweet Kisses, Berry Sweet Love, Berry Sweet Pea, Berry Sweet Surrender, and so on. A person has to be careful with naming barn names that are too sickly sweet though. I had a "Precious" once and she was anything but precious. We had a mare named "Baby" and I cannot even tell you how fast we changed that name. Some barn names might tie to the registered name like Smooch, Love, Pea; but we will find other "slightly" sweet names for the rest of them.
Moving forward, what to name China's babies was also a struggle. Perfection and Shenanigans didn't already have a true connection - other than an element of sass. That's when I realized it - sass is truly China's middle name. Along with queen, diva, - well you get it right? Sass it is. Let's brainstorm.... Berry Sweet Revenge, Berry Sweet Vengence, Berry Sweet Karma, Berry Sweet Mischief, Berry Sweet Rumor.... this is going to be fun! Her baby's names will probably be things tied to their registered names like Diva, Karma, Rumor, etc... Embrace the sass, don't even try to fight it, right?
Speaking of rumors... there is a little rumor that there may be another broodmare joining the Berry Sweet family in 2024, but we will keep that announcement to ourselves for a future date. Let's just say, she's a cutie! If all works out she already has her "theme" picked out for her future Berry Sweet additions to the legacy.
So what do you think? Any additions to the ideas for the mares? Feel free to throw your suggestions in the ring.
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