Tucked in a region of galloping suburban growth is a town where the sidewalks are horse trails and there’s a ride-through McDonald’s.

Locals hunker down at the Saddle Sore Saloon. New commercial development must be western themed. The application is in to trademark the name locals already consider official: Horsetown USA.

Yet despite its trappings and swagger, Norco is struggling to make sure its new slogan, ”city living in a rural atmosphere,” doesn’t become a hollow promise. A new strategic plan discusses how to guard–and capitalize–on the city’s equine identity.

The town is under tremendous pressure to develop along with the one of the nation’s fastest growing areas, the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. Mansions have been sprouting on nearby hills, and the average new home price hovers around $850,000, according to city calculations.

A denser population forces the issue of what to do with all that manure