While working at American Health Studios in the spring of 1957 Steve spent some time in San Diego County looking for a piece of ranching property. Valley Center caught his eye which is about 45 miles north of San Diego. He met with a realtor and was introduced to a gentleman by the name of Melvin Hanks. After some negotiations they came to an agreement price of twelve thousand dollars.

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This was the start of the ranch that would later be called "La Hacienda del Sol" or The Ranch of the Sun. He moved his ranching business less cattle from Oregon to Valley Center after he sold the Oregon ranch. He expanded and built the new ranch in Valley Center which was finished in 1972.

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It had everything he need for his Morgan horses and Aline and himself. A beautiful single story ranch style home built entirely with foot thick adobe blocks.  He converted one third of the forty foot garage into his gym and even had a very nice pool in the back yard to exercise in. All this sat on fourteen acres of nice valley floor surrounded on three sides by hills. On a nice day you could see Mt. Palomar to the northeast and the ocean to the west. Steve said it was one of the nicest places he had lived at. It's considered a cooler Mediterranean type climate and is over 1400 feet in elevation.

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At the peak of his horse breeding business you would see twelve to fifteen horses in the pastures. His horses won many ribbons and awards over the years and was the President of the San Diego Morgan Horse Society for a short time.  

 

I cover the complete building and operation of the ranch in the "Steve Reeves A Moment in Time" biography.  A must book for your collection and it has many surprises throughout the book.