Local Attractions

Norco has a self-imposed nickname... "Horsetown USA". For being in the middle of urban sprawl, this is a very horse-minded and animal friendly community. In fact, every parcel of land has what they call a designated 'PACA' area, or an area specifically designed to house animals. We've see the traditional horses and goats, roosters and chickens and also ducks, ostrich, peacocks, emu (I think) and various other creatures in peoples yards and sometimes wandering the streets. The 'welcome kit' from the city described how to properly dispose of manure, there are horse trails in front of our houses (no sidewalks) which we see lots of horses on, almost daily, the parks have riding areas along with the swings and slides, at the crosswalks there are buttons to press in order to get a walk light both at the normal level and a few feet higher so you don't have to get off your horse to press them, and business (including the Post Office) have small corralls to hook your horse up in when you go take care of your mailing/shopping/whatever.

Anyhow, to join in our community we went to the Bull Riding at the event center very nearby out house. They had mutton bustin' (read: sheep riding by the 7 and under crowd) and traditional bull riding. All the kids loved it, especially Luke who would sit transfixed on the next slot where the sheep or bull was going to come out next. Jack and Leah might actually try some of that mutton bustin', too! Anyhow, here they are all decked out to go. There is a rodeo in a couple of weeks. I think we'll be trying that out, too!