History of New England Arabian Trail Organization

NEATO

In the early 2000s there were no Arabian Clubs in New England that concentrated on Trail Riding. All clubs were interested in showing their Arabians. After a few years of building up a trail program in one of the clubs and receiving no recognition for our horses we all split up and went to other Arabian Horse Association clubs. In 2004 Fred and Cheryl Mastele started to talk about their desire to have an Arabian club dedicated to trail activities. They contacted Jennifer Coffey, who had run the very successful trail program in the club we all left. 

In January 2005 we met for the first time at Jennifer’s house to plan a club.  At that meeting Fred and Cheryl along with Jennifer started to put a club together. Along with Lynn Burns, Cathie Mestemaker-Harris, Sylvie Napoli, Celeste Santos-Rivera, Faith Brouillard, and Phyllis Alexander the foundation for NEATO was laid out. The concept was to include family members and friends who did not ride registered Arabians by having an Open Breed division. The club started its first year with 25 adult and 6 youth members. We planned pleasure trail rides around the state. A year end banquet was planned and held at the Dock & Dine. Prizes and ribbons were awarded to all who reached designated milestones. The club had a very successful first year

In 2007 we took over the Kay Fullerton CTR that was coordinated by our new member Roxanne Winslow. We expanded our schedule and held rides in CT, MA, and RI. We had grown to 56 adult and 13 youth members. Our riding programs have evolved over the years. An Endurance ride was added to our ride schedule. Weekend camping rides have been included.  The club has become a well-rounded group. We have Endurance, CTR, Pleasure Trail and Recreational Riding Programs that include all breeds.