NEECA News November, 2025

The

NEECA News

November, 2025

Environmental Center

100 Main Street, Athol

Sunday, Nov. 16th at 1 pm

End of Year Awards

Since we are not doing the Fall Social this year, we are going to take the opportunity to present end of year awards at a smaller, more casual event. Anyone up for a pizza party?

We'll be meeting at the Environmental Center, 100 Main Street in Athol on Sunday, Nov. 16th at 1 pm. At that time we will award over $1200 in prizes to our Gymkhana Series winners. We will also be recognizing the Youth Award, donated by Community Horse Magazine. The award is to be given to the youth (under 18) who has shown the best horsemanship and sportsmanship at events.

Lastly, we will be awarding the "coveted" NEECA Volunteeer of the Year Award to one of our members who have gone "above and beyond" for NEECA.

All NEECA members and Gymkhana prize winners are welcome, however we would ask that you RSVP to neeca1958@gmail.com if you are planning to come so that we can make sure we have enough drinks and pizza for everyone.

Please put AWARDS in the subject line.

NEECA Trail Ride Was Fantastic

Almost from the beginning of NEECA, we hoped one day to be able to host an organized trail ride directly from the NEECA property. Thanks to the kindness of a park abuttor, along with the willingness of Ben and Susie Feldman to share their amazing trails with us, that dream came true this past October.

We had nearly 50 people signed up for the ride, which was amazing since this was a first time event. Ride Organizer, and NEECA Board Member Margo Petracone, spent countless hours plotting out the trail loop, in addition to marking it well so it would be easy to follow. Riders were able to stay on the NEECA trails if they preferred a shorter ride, or venture off to Cutthroat Brook Tree Farm (Ben & Susie's Farm) if they were looking for a little more time in the saddle.

And the weather??? If you tried to order up the perfect trail riding day, you couldn't have done any better than the day we had for this ride. Quite literally the PERFECT fall day for a horse ride through some beautiful trails. And, as always, this couldn't be done without the help of some pretty amazing volunteers. First, a big thank you to Margo again for all the time she put into planning this ride. Thank you Larry Marshall for being our "grill daddy" for the day and feeding the hungry crew upon their return. Thank you Althea Bramhall and Sue Ellen Mowcomber, two more NEECA Board members, for manning the safety checkpoints on both sides of Rte. 32, checking riders in/out as they came by. And thanks to Elizabeth Pacek for driving in from a pretty fair distance away to help get everyone parked and signed in efficiently the morning of the ride. Lastly, a BIG shout out to Officer Kara Hartung and the Petersham Police Department for providing a traffic detail to make sure all our riders were able to cross Rte. 32 safely both coming and going.

We look forward to hopefully making this trail ride an annual event at NEECA. If you missed it this year, we sure hope you can join us in 2026!!

What Do YOU Want To See At NEECA?

The NEECA Board is working on our Calendar of Events for 2026. So far we know our Gymkhana Series will be taking place, plenty of driving events, and there will be a dressage schooling show in June. We're looking into a Liberty Clinic, which would be a first for us, and possibly a Western Dressage Clinic, yet another first.

We're hoping to have the Triathlon return, the Hunter Pace again in September, and another Fall Trail Ride. All of these events were extremely popular this year. And participants had a blast! Heron's Crest will be back for their schooling jumping show, and there is a strong possibility that there might be a 3 event Ranch Riding series!

If you have any suggestions, please send them to neeca1958@gmail.com. But if we add more events, we'll need help to run them. ;) For example, one of our members is looking into bringing a dressage instructor in on a monthly basis for private/semi-private lessons. We will help to promote it, and help in any way needed, but she will be the organizer of the event. We can get more of these types of events happening at NEECA if our members get more involved in helping to run them.

New to NEECA? Follow link below for answers to some commonly asked questions about your NEECA membership, and use of the park.

https://www.neeca.org/faqs

HOW CAN YOU HELP NEECA GROW?

In the past year NEECA has been the grateful recipient of nearly $4000 in donations from supporters. All of this money is used to help NEECA grow and improve. These recent donations made the purchase of the jumps mentioned above possible this year.

If you would like to show your support of NEECA, we have added a donation button to the home page of our website, www.neeca.org, where you can make a one-time or recurring donation to NEECA in the amount of your choosing. As always, we are so very appreciative of all the support shown to NEECA from our very generous supporters!

NEECA is a 501(c)3 so your donations may be tax deductible.

SUPPORT THE BUSINESSES THAT SUPPORT NEECA WHENEVER YOU CAN!

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES WHO SUPPORT NEECA BY LISTING THEIR BUSINESS/SERVICE IN NEECA'S 2025 ONLINE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

https://www.neeca.org/online-business-directory-listings or click on direct links below!

_________________________________________

Aaron Forestry Services -

B & D Mansfield - Field and Pasture Mowing

C & J's Custom Creation -

Equine Art by Devan Waskiewicz -

The Farm at Millstone Oaks - Lessons

Nikki's Nook - Horse Camping

Family Pet Veterinary Services - Small Animal

Mallet Roll Off Dumpster Service

Saddlefit And Solutions - Saddle Fitting

Interested in listing your business? Sign up and payment can conveniently be done online at neeca.org, follow link from home page.

About NEECA Membership Benefits.......

The following businesses and professionals support NEECA by offering special discounts to our members (current NEECA membership card most be shown to receive discounts):

C & J's Custom Creations (10% off first order, and/or waive $35 set-up fee for sweatshirts) NEW

Community Horse Magazine (spring/summer and fall/winter online issues)

Hardwick Farmers Co-op (3% Off All Purchases, add'l 7% off on special Members Sale Days)

Horseback & Body Massage ($10 off, 413-320-7690 )

Family Pet Vet Service ($15 off annual exam, 978-249-4626)

Mending Fences Animal Wellness (Discount off Massage + MagnaWave Treatment for your horse. $180 value, only $155 for NEECA members, 508-864-9840 )

White Pickets Studio (10% off, Petersham, MA)

Plus NEECA members receive special rates on certain NEECA sponsored events.

"The mission of NEECA is to preserve and protect land for equine interests while promoting good horsemanship and educating equestrians for the betterment of the horse now, and for the generations to follow."