Mares with More| P eppy Belle
A
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Matlock Rose
By Larry Thornton ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ s a continuation of our look at Pep Up, we will delve a little deeper into Peppy Belle, one of his famous daughters. Peppy Belle and her son Peppy San would play a major role in Matlock Rose’s life and his legendary history as a horseman. Then as you will see, she will contribute more through her son Mr San Peppy and his role as a King Ranch sire. This will show us how Peppy Belle is one of our Mares With More. Matlock’s first association with Peppy Belle came in 1958 at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado. Matlock and Gordon Howell were sitting in the stands talking about mares when Howell asked him to look at some horses with him. One of the mares was Peppy Belle, and Howell bought her for $1,600. She was a three-year-old mare. This is how Matlock described Peppy Belle, “She was just a nice kind of mare. It’s just something about a horse like her. You don’t see those kinds of mares very often. This mare had a good neck, good hip, wither, smart looking head, a good eye. She was a good sound-legged kind
of a horse.” It is interesting to see the respect Matlock had for her conformation, and then you see her pedigree. She was sired by Pep Up by Macanudo, giving us another shot of Macanudo blood in the history of horses associated with Matlock Rose. Just as we have seen with mares like Miss Peppy D, Ruth Bixler, and Do Si Do, a cutting mare that Matlock showed. Howell took Peppy Belle home and bred her to Leo San, a son of Leo he had bought to serve as his senior sire. Leo San was out of San Sue Darks by San Siemon by Zantanon, and this makes San Siemon a paternal half-brother to King P-234. San Sue Darks was out of Little Sue by Sam Watkins by Hickory Bill. San Sue Darks is a full sister to Sue Hunt, the dam of the NRHA Hall of Fame stallion Continental King by King P-234. Howell had entered the quarter horse breeding business in the 1950s to become a leading breeder of performance and halter horses. Leo San was a good sire of all-around quarter horses. He sired 23 Superior halter and performance award winners. These Superiors were won in cut-
MACANUDO ch 1934 QUARTER HORSE #0000211
PEP UP ch 1941 QUARTER HORSE #0002100 PEPPY BELLE sor 15.0 1955 QUARTER HORSE #0054365
PETRA R ch 1933 QUARTER HORSE #0000144
GOLD RUSH pal 1936 QUARTER HORSE #0000457
BELLE BURNETT pal 1949 QUARTER HORSE #0043207
42 Working Horse Magazine Summer 2021
TRIANGLE LADY 9 ch 1935 QUARTER HORSE #0000446
OLD SORREL ch 1915 QUARTER HORSE #0000209 CANALES BELL ch 1923 QUARTER HORSE #0000141 LITTLE RICHARD ch 1922 QUARTER HORSE #0000017 LUCKY MOSE MARE QUARTER HORSE U0074259 CALIENTE pal 1932 QUARTER HORSE U0069159 SORREL MARE sor QUARTER HORSE U0079942 RED BUCK sor 1930 QUARTER HORSE #0000393 BURNETT RIDING MARE QUARTER HORSE U0146162
HICKO b 1907 DR ROS
ROAN C
PELICA ch 1917 OLD SO ch 1915 LUCKY
LUCKY 1904
DEL RE pal 1918 SORRE sor
BUCK T buck 192 ZEPPLI sor 1926
