annoyance by trying to bite at him and even kicked in our direction!
When I shared that with my redneck cowboy client, he turned a nice shade of red in embarrassment as he confirmed what she’d said… he did call her Rat’. He exclaimed, “I can’t call her that! Everyone would laugh at me! Cutting horse people just don’t name their horses things like ‘Wind Dancer!’ ”
I tried to explain to her how he felt and asked her if we could somehow find a compromise to work this out. She said it would be ok if he called her Windy, as long as he KNEW he was actually calling her Wind Dancer, but just saying Windy for short.He said he thought that would be ok, and she came over for a head rub as she visibly calmed down.
A couple of weeks later, I checked in with him and asked how she was doing. Apparently, as soon as they got things straight between them, she settled down to her work and became quite a good cow horse very quickly. It was never the work she minded, just the attitude.
Have you ever felt that the name you are calling your animal friend is somehow not right, or doesn’t fit them, or noticed that they didn’t respond to it? Maybe you’ve got the wrong name. You may not know it but animals do occasionally change their names.
Different cultures traditionally have allowed individuals to earn a new name during rites of passage or in vision quests. Animals also can choose different aspects of themselves to embrace at different times of their lives as they mature or go through phases. It’s not uncommon for a shelter animal to want a new name when they go to a new home or choose a new family.