HGG Community Forums

As far as I am aware, there’s no formal etiquette for this.

Disclaimer: The following is only my own personal opinion and I know other players play differently, and I can’t control what they do.

If a person is buying a horse from me that already has a name, I personally don’t mind at all if they change any prefixes/suffixes/things they use to sort and identify in their barns. I also don’t mind if they change the horse’s name to something else that is clearly intended to be a name- like changing “Oops I did it again” to just “I Did It Again” or something like that. It’s kind of fun for me to see what other people’s minds come up with, given the same sire and dam!

It does hurt a little bit when I see an already named horse’s name changed to just their ID number. It usually comes up when I’m checking lineages or offspring lists, and I go “wait that horse looks familiar”, see that I bred and sold it, then have a moment where I might remember what it’s name was and feel sad for a minute. (Then I move on, it’s just a game after all lol). It irritates me a tiny bit more when it comes to horses that have offspring when they’re sold, because it disrupts a naming scheme/inspiration.

If a horse is unnamed when I sell it, I don’t give a hoot what you do with it. :))

Again, this is only my opinion! Everyone has the right to play the game the way they want and I’m never going to make it a big deal or anything.

I personally do not have a problem with people renaming a horse once they purchase it from me as it’s now their horse to do with as they please. Personal preference would be for the name to remain unchanged as my naming scheme for foals comes from combining the sire and dam’s names but again, it’s no longer my horse.

Generally if I buy a horse that is already named, I don’t really change it. I may tweak it but I try not to alter it too much. Unnamed horses I consider free game and I think it’s funny to poke at the fact they didn’t have a name when I bought it so I’ve had a couple mares with names like “Horse With No Name” and “Shall Remain Nameless”.

I also do not name my showing stock. I have certain things I do for only breeding stock and things I do for only showing stock so I want to be able to tell them apart at a glance when I’m going through a drop down list. It doesn’t mean I love them any less! :P

Just to add the official stance: You cannot put any conditions on the sale of a horse, which includes the expectation of keeping a name, or spaying/gelding, etc. Same goes for breeding. You cannot put any conditions on what the foal owner does to/with the foal. You can do what you please with private sales/breedings, and the game runners will not step in if there is a disagreement, but definitely WILL step if there is any drama resulting from the issue.