Alright, so today I’m gonna spill the beans on how I came up with some old west horse names. It was a fun little project, and I figured I’d share the process.
It all started when I was messing around with a game idea. Needed some names for horses, and I wanted them to sound authentic, you know? Like something you’d actually hear back in the day.
First thing I did was hit up the internet. Just googled “old west horse names,” plain and simple. Found a bunch of lists, but most of ’em were kinda generic. Like “Beauty” and “Star.” Nah, I needed something with more grit.
So, I started digging deeper. Looked at historical records, books about the old west, even watched a few old westerns for inspiration. I was trying to get a feel for the language they used back then, the kind of words they found cool.
Here’s where it got interesting. I noticed a few patterns. A lot of horses were named after their color, but not just “Blackie” or “Brownie.” They’d use words like “Roan,” “Dun,” or “Sorrel.” That gave me a good starting point.
Then I started thinking about characteristics. What kind of things would cowboys admire in a horse? Speed, strength, endurance. So, I played around with words that suggested those qualities. “Quickfoot,” “Stonewall,” “Ironhide,” stuff like that.
- I even started combining words. Color + characteristic. Like “Roan Lightning” or “Dun Devil.” Sounded pretty good, right?
- Another thing I did was look at names of famous outlaws and gunslingers. See if I could borrow any of those. “Billy the Kid’s” horse could be named something cool, right?
- Finally, I just started making stuff up! I’d take a word I liked and twist it, or combine it with something else that sounded cool. “Gravelgut,” “Whiskeywind,” “Dust Devil.”
It was a lot of trial and error, just scribbling down names on a piece of paper until something clicked. Some of ’em were terrible, I’m not gonna lie. But eventually, I ended up with a list of names I was actually happy with.
The key takeaway? Don’t be afraid to experiment. Mix and match words, look for inspiration in unexpected places, and don’t worry about being perfect. Just have fun with it, and you might be surprised at what you come up with.
Here are a few examples of the names I ended up with:
- Cinder Roan
- Dusty Spurs
- Ironclad
- Whiskey Creek
- Shadow Walker
So yeah, that’s how I came up with my old west horse names. Hope it gives you some ideas if you’re working on something similar! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go wrangle up some more inspiration.