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Reprint from Equus, November, 1998

Imagine a neighborhood, or better yet an entire town, where all residents keep a horse or two on their own property. Where people can ride to the store, even to work. Where the horse is not a novelty, but a way of life.

Such an equestrian utopia may sound too good to be true, but it already exists: It's called Norco, California. Located about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, the town of Norco was incorporated in 1964, the brainchild of a real estate agent, Bill Vaughn. "We weren't attracting any development, so [Vaughn] advertised Norco as a horse community," related Shelby Rose Byrd, a longtime Norconian who works for the local newspaper, The Norco News. The building boom along the coast had displaced many horse ranchers, she says, and Norco was an ideal refuge them. Town bylaws forbade condos and apartment complexes. No lot could be less than a half-acre, and developers had to include riding trails in their building plans. Residents were allowed up to five large animals: horses, cattle or llamas.

Vaughn died last November, but he lived to see his vision become a reality. Norco today is a bustling town of 25,000 residents and a whopping 60,000 horses, with an entire commercial district devoted to animal supplies. Norvah Williams, president of the Norco Horsemen's Association, boasts that "even the Jack in the Box has watering troughs and hitching posts." About two-thirds of Norconians own horses, Williams says, and the rest enjoy the equestrian lifestyle vicariously. Even the nearby prison, with 7,000 inmates, is considered an asset. "We have 85 miles of trails," Williams observes, "and it's nice that we have the opportunity to use prisoner crews" to maintain them.

Preserving that lifestyle has required enduring will and commitment, however. Time and again, William says, developers have sought approval for sprawling apartment complexes, and landowners have repeatedly tried to subdivide their parcels. Each time, community resistance has scuttled those plans. "We're very zealous," she says. Norco has learned a lesson from several nearby towns that have lost their pastoral charm to strip malls and condo developments. "Once you start allowing things like that, in a short time the animals will be gone." she says.

Williams regularly fields calls from towns all over the country that want to emulate Norco's horse-friendly ways. She tries to be encouraging, but she doesn't sugarcoat the inherent obstacles. "You really have to start like we did -- from the ground up," says Williams. The most important step, she says, is to establish a minimum lot size to ensure ample easements for riding trails. A rural town still in the early stages of land-use planning "is in a pretty good position" to follow Norco's lead, Willlims says. But for an existing community, where parcels have already been earmarked for conventional development, she adds, it may be too late to turn back the clock.