Wednesday, March 13, 2013

I can't believe I forgot to tell you his name!  Actually I think I wrote a post about his name and the story behind it about 6 months ago, but that was a long time ago

His name is Joseph.  I didn't name him.  No person named him.  It's not a name I would have chosen.  It just came to me one day in the kitchen.  I still remember it very clearly.  I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, maybe drying my hands, I don't know, but it was a weird place to stand.  His face came into my mind, and the name.  Joseph.  Chief Joseph's face was part of it all too, but also a dream about Joseph and his many-colored coat.  

So laugh, or whatever.  My husband does.  He thinks I'm crazy.  He's a totally non-spiritual person.  I'm sure he thinks something misfired in my brain that day, or that I had already made some connections subconsciously that suddenly became conscious. 

Yesterday, kind of hoping he'd reject the name, I tested it on my horse.  He was standing in the horse trailer, pointedly looking straight ahead, not at me (direct eye contact was a bit too much at the time).  I was talking to him, "Good boy, it's okay," that sort of thing, and he continued to look straight ahead.  Then I said, "Joseph."  He looked directly at me with both eyes.  I talked soothingly for a few more minutes while he pointedly did not look at me, and then I said his name again, and he looked right at me again.  So.  It's his name.

In a slightly related but less "crazy" post, Kate at A Year with Horses talks about 
I think it's definitely worth the read.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I think its a good name.

Anonymous said...

I love the name Joseph - it has connotations of kindness, and peace and calm to me. I love the way the name came to you, and the way he's responded to it already.

Anonymous said...

Love the name. Congratulations with Joseph!

shadowlake2005 said...

Great name, very calm and steady.

Keechy said...

I like that he liked his name. I do believe a name coming to you like that is a good sign. I really struggled to name my last mare (the name she had was abominable so I couldn't keep it) and then we didn't go on to really click.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

I'm not laughing at you.

That is very similar to how my mare got her name.
She came to me with the name Sugar, but it never seemed like it fit and my horse didn't respond to it either.

But one day I was just sitting out in her pasture while she stood and ate her hay a few feet away. I was thinking of nothing, but just zoning out on the sound of her eating, when the name Apache popped into my head.
It was so strong and so loud! It made me sit up and when I did, I saw that my mare was looking right at me. So, I said the name Apache out loud, and she stared at me and came over to me, nuzzled my face, and licked my clothes. And I said it again, and gave her a hug.

That was her name and I believe she gave me that name that day. She chose that name for herself.

Joseph is a great name.

~Lisa