Absarokee Sunset

whnywriter · Active Member Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 429

I would be interested in hearing anyone's take on the name "Spadigus." Mavis Peavy was the daughter of a man who made his living selling books...the "classics" to be exact. She was also a school teacher and a life-long reader. This is why some of the early mares had names like Artemis, Minerva and Saale Medusa (not sure where the "Saale" comes from).

I googled "Spadigus" with no success.

Again, I'll have to ask Laura Boggio Brest about Wildfire. I'm not sure he was still in the country when she arrived in the early or mid-1950s. I have been encouraging Laura (who uses two fingers to type) to get a cassette tape recorder and start recording all of her Appaloosa experiences. She knew Marcus Crowley, one of the greatest of all early-day Appaloosa breeder; his line descended from a mare named Esther.

Frank Holmes

Pat Mefferd · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:32 pm Post subject:

Frank....Maybe it should have been Spartigus...didn't Kirk Douglas play him...a viking???? Pat
_________________
Pat Mefferd, PM MEFFERD Pedigree Research, Anderson, CA. (Retired)
Proud daughter of Fred Kennedy (1982 Stuntmans Hall of Fame)
http://members.tripod.com/~horsefame/fredkennedy.html

NZ Appaloosas · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 9:43 pm Post subject:

Spartacus, Latin name of a Thracian slave who was the most notable leader of the Third Servile War (circa 73 BC). It is believed that Spartacus was a Roman soldier, tried/convicted of desertion and robbery, imprisoned and sold to a gladiator school. He and about 70 others plotted an escape, was betrayed, but managed to fight free anyway.

Yes, Kirk Douglas played the role of Spartacus, Laurence Olivier played Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Jean Simmons played Varinia in the 1960 version.

It could be that the person who named "Spadigus" misheard "Spartacus" or misunderstood the accent, or that the club registrar mis-read the name on the application.

Diane
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"Nothing can be sliced so thin that it doesn't have two sides" Anon.

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whnywriter · Active Member Joined: 11 Jan 2005 Posts: 429

Pat and Diane,

I had considered Spartacus...it was the only name that came even close. The horse could have been named that by the Peavys and subsequently mis-understood or mis-spelled by the McDowell. The point at which he he was registered with NQHBA (#8024) was probably when the name was changed to Wildfire...

In most of my early-day visits/conversations with Mavis Peavy I, of course, always turned the conversation to the Old Blue Mare line of Appaloosas. Mavis told me on more than one occasion...and quite matter-of-factly...that Marshall Peavy was a Quarter Horse man. He did have that one single thread of pre-registry Appaloosa in his band but he never considered himself an Appaloosa breeder. Mavis told me, "We kept those horses, not because they were Appaloosas; but rather because they were good."

Frank Holmes
Kiowa, CO

Pat Mefferd · Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:28 am Post subject:

Hi Diane,

Thanks for the correction....Roman, not Viking....Douglas did play a Viking, I think....

Pat
_________________
Pat Mefferd, PM MEFFERD Pedigree Research, Anderson, CA. (Retired)
Proud daughter of Fred Kennedy (1982 Stuntmans Hall of Fame)
http://members.tripod.com/~horsefame/fredkennedy.html

warchief · Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:59 pm Post subject:

I may be wrong, but when the AQHA and the NQHBA merged weren't NQHBA horses given Tentative status?

ftfotb · Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:12 pm Post subject: