Naming an animal is a way of claiming that creature as your own. It is also a way of indicating to others, the quality and nature of your relationship with that creature. Sometimes, this can get a bit touchy, as I discovered when I took my horse to a veterinarian for blood tests a couple weeks ago...

Time and again I’ve called to hospital rooms, not to attend to a body, but to commend a soul into the hands of God and have experienced a mysterious Presence...