The Southern Cross Ranch was created in February of 2007 by two families who loved horses.   The Weatherly’s and the Jones’ put their horse herds together to create Southern Cross Ranch. It is owned and operated with the goal of providing good, clean, family oriented fun and adventure for all to enjoy.

The ranch strives to produce the best horses for the southeast area. Stallions for breeding, mares for foaling, geldings for training, and babies for playing with, are all a part of the ranch.   Training is done by Chuck Jones and Diane W. Calhoun. Chuck has been training horses for 27 years. The first horse, named Blaze, was trained for Mr. Albert Scott, and Blaze still ropes and trains children regularly.   Chuck has studied under John Lyons, Dennis Reis, Clinton Anderson, and Craig Cameron. He has a “Way” with horses.  A gentle person, Chuck communicates with horses with a soft and tender nature. Chuck trains horses full time at the ranch and keeps several outside horses all the time.

Diane has been riding horses for as long as she can remember. She has directed her thoughts and riding to the English events, hunter, jumper, etc. Diane trains and rides horses for the public in hunter/ jumper, and likes going to the shows with her associates. Diane has just graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Equine Sciences, which will certainly help in our breeding, nutrition, and management practices.  She recently served to represent Henry County in the Alfa Farmers Federation, and was elected to a state office. Following family tradition, Diane has shown cows all her life. She excelled in the show ring through the years, and finalized her show life by winning at the state level.

Diane’s parents, Jane and Terry Weatherly are very actively involved at the ranch. Jane helps Diane with the bookkeeping, financing, and with the concessions. Diane also helps customers with feed. One of the businesses at the ranch is "Ranch Feed" and they sell the "Nutrena" brand horse and dog food, as well as "Alabama Steer Power" show cow feed. Terry helps keep everything situated in the grounds department; cutting trails, moving dirt, establishing pastures, and disking the arena for shows. Elizabeth their daughter, her husband David, and their baby Lori Jane have been lots of help in our extra activities. 

Chuck’s wife Penny likes working with the sponsors, advertisers, concessions, and the web page. Their daughter, Chalice, developed a software program for keeping score that she and Diane successfully utilize at the team roping events. Chuck and Penny's other daughter and son, Carllee and Chase, help when possible. They both love to ride and participate. Chase just recently went with Chuck to Bluffdale, TX for a week of riding western pleasure with instructor Craig Cameron. They both help with riding green horses.  Friends and boarders at the ranch, all help with the concessions and t-shirt sales. All of the students and boarders help with everything at the ranch, including operating the stripping chute, riding horses, and guiding trailrides.

Trails are a new adventure at the ranch. Leasing land has enabled the ranch to establish new trails that roll through the natural woods. It is a beautiful and rewarding experience for any horseman to behold. These trails will take you away to a place that you did not believe still existed in the southeast area. They can keep you occupied for a short trail ride, one that takes you all day, or anything in between. You will pass trees so big it takes more than three people to reach around them and encounter creeks that flow gently beside the trails.  The trails are blanketed by a covering of trees above that only accent the natural beauty and peaceful setting.

At the ranch, quite a bit of up keep is required. As everybody helps, it is a prerequisite that one must learn to clean out stalls first before learning to ride (literally learning from the bottom up!).Ha Ha!!

We are very eco- friendly, as we recycle all horse waste product to use as fertilizer. Mr. Lynn Woodham helps out by cleaning stalls and processing fertilizer. His son, Ty, helps out with some of everything, trail riding, transporting horses, grooming, and other general tasks. Ty is beginning to learn the ropes, so he can soon participate with the Team Roping events.

At Southern Cross Ranch we strive very hard to meet the need and desires of our borders, students, advertisers, and customers. We try to manufacture fun and fellowship among our students. Diane plans to go to shows and events with the students, and teach them to show competively. Come on out, bring your family, see how we can help you for your next event, meeting, or adventure.