A Horse Called Bast

Since before Baybuilt came home, I've been trying to come up with a barn name for him. While I knew I'd keep Baybuilt as his show name, I didn't want to use it in the barn. It's awkward to say, and a bit too impersonal for every day use.

So the search began. Initially, I constrained my ideas to two themes: boats and the Chesapeake Bay.

See, a Baybuilt is a type of boat, designed for use on the Chesapeake Bay. Baybuilt the horse, was born near the Bay and spent most of his racing life in areas shaped by the Bay. His breeder and his life was tied in with water tightly, and I tried hard to keep some of that alive in his name. Friends helped...
Emma always makes me giggle.
After I vetoed all the names Emma could throw at me from various Wikipedia pages, we resolved to call him "Crab Chip" after a type of potato chip popular in the Chesapeake Bay area, seasoned liberally with delicious Old Bay. My favorite.
Crab Chip, meet crab chips. Mmm. Tasty.
As a joke, the name was great (and has totally stuck). As a barn name, though? It left much to be desired. Finally, I gave up the naming process for awhile. Maybe if I got to know Baybuilt better, a name would become obvious.
After all, he's cute. Cute things are prone to picking up names, right?
My barn workers weren't helping. They started calling him things I absolutely hate, like BB or Baby. Still, I couldn't settle on a name that I liked well enough to start using in place of these. Plus, nothing about Baybuilt stood out to me as naming material, and nothing about boats seemed to apply.
Mr. Looks Good In Green? No, too long. 
When a burst of not-so-great behavior had me labeling Baybuilt as "The Arrogant Bastard" (yes, after the beer), I knew I had it. Thus, Bast was born.

The name doesn't just refer to a shortened form of the word "bastard", though that's a pretty amusing way to think about it. There's a few things more things that go into it.
"Me? Arrogant? Why I never!" -- Bast
First, it's a well known name for an Egyptian cat goddess. While I'm not into cats, Bast is pretty goddamned catlike when he wants to be. Plus, she's a goddess of music and dance. I feel that's pretty good stuff for a dressage horse to be affiliated with.
Sometimes you just gotta DANCE!
Second, the word bast is an extremely old term that crosses several languages. It refers to a type of fibrous rope. This tied into the boat theme loosely enough for me.
After all, no one thinks about boats without thinking about rope. Right?
Finally, Bast is the name of a character I quite enjoy from a series of books. That character is described as "charming and loveable and only a tiny bit scary." I can't think of a more perfect way to characterize this little horse.

Dark. Charming. And a little bit scary.
Bast it is.
How did your horse get its nickname? Anyone put this much thought into it? Or am I the crazy one here?

Comments

  1. I like Bast! Barn names are tricky. I think it suits him :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it, Bast suits him! Basse is sometimes called Bastardtini by my mother because his show name is Riverfield Bastitini 🙃

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bast is awesome. HA. I do like short names like that so enjoy that its so short.

    I really do like him a lot and am looking forward to all your stories. His face is so sweet. And no i would not want B or BB so am glad he got his own name. tho he who looks good in green has potential :) Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. egyptian cat goddess???? how the F did i not immediately think of that first????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 😂 I dunno, but I feel like the fact that I named my horse after something to do with a cat is partially your fault!

      Delete
    2. wait doesn't your dog eat cats? :) LOLLOL

      Delete
  5. The main character’s horse in one of my favorite series’s is actually named Bastard. I really like Bast!! Such a great name :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love it and I adore your new pony!

    When Chloe is being a supremely ridiculous pony she becomes “Chlonita”, based on Ponita from President Taft’s Secret Pony Brigade.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the thoughtful process behind how you came up with his barn name. And now I'm off to Google looking for this book series haha.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Getting the right name is so hard. Glad you found it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Getting the right name takes time. I like Bast!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think Bast is a perfect name!! I, too, can be pretty nerdy about naming. It definitely isn't a quick thing for me either, though I do often come up with meaningful names prior to getting to know my animals. I try to pick names that have a lot of meaning to me, roll of the tongue well, and are personality-neutral so my animal can fill that niche itself.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Luckily, Roger came with a barn and show name (Roger and Roger That, respectively) that I loved and I didn't have to put forth any more thought regarding his names. 'Roger' absolutely fits him too: he's like a 88-year old man, stuck in an (almost) 8-year old's body. I definitely don't love his JC name, but I only really use that for official OTTB/JC things, so he's otherwise known as Roger or Rog or "why are you such a weirdo?" or The Rog "what a goober." You know, common nicknames like that :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I know a cat named Bast (after bastard and a character in a book). Is the book series "The Name of the Wind"? If so, my husband and I love those books.

    My boy's registered name is Burn the Mortgage, which I really liked. The place we got him from had his barn name "BTM" which I thought was dumb and reminded me of BDSM for some reason. The husband came up with Mort and it stuck. I am absolutely terrible at coming up with names though so I always have to enlist help.

    Bast is a good one though!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a lovely name - it really suits him! I have a Bailey I call "BB" and spent a lot of time calling her Baby until lately when I've decided she's finally grown up, so I'm sorry I'm propagating your least favorite naming conventions :D

    ReplyDelete
  14. SO. PERFECT. I love it! Has such a nice sound to it and absolutely rings of a character in a fantasy novel!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love Bast! It definitely suits him. I actually hated Spring's name when I met her and was dead set on changing it, but by the time I brought her home it had stuck, and I didn't want to change it any more.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love it! Plus it sort of ties in to your "Naming Animals After Booze" trend. Bast - Angry Bastard.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Aaaaaahhhhh, GREAT Kingkiller callout. <3

    I should write up Tristan's naming story someday. It's a doozy.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment