He purchased a stable, Hayfever Farm in 1976, and in addition to acting as a trainer, he began a career as a standardbred harness horse owner.

Shapiro was largely self-taught in his early years, riding at his family’s small farm in Old Brookeville, N.Y., on Long Island.

[6] In an interview, Neal noted, “I started competing seriously in 1959 on the Long Island Circuit on a little mare named Buttons.” “At 15, I showed Music Man in Madison Square Garden in 1960.” His career took a giant step for the better when he changed his mount.

Uncle Max was a tall gray ex-rodeo gelding that his father had purchased for him with the hope he would make a good jumper.

deNemethy, a Hall of Fame jumper himself, invited Neal to join the Nations Cups team as one of the young riders.

[6] Around the age of 21, in late 1964 and into 1965, at a teen center in Gladstone, New Jersey, trainer-coach of the U.S. equestrian team, Bert de Nemethy began supervising Shapiro's progress as a rider.

Shapiro believed the injury may have reduced Sloopy's endurance for the final jumps and caused the gelding to lose points after he nicked the tape, and knocked down two rails on a late jump, but Neal was pleased with the Bronze medal and impressed with Sloopy's stamina.

"[7] In addition to his Olympic medals, Shapiro was a contributor to twelve winning Nations Cup efforts for the US Team.

He needed a year of apprenticeship to compete as a harness racer, but it took him longer as he was travelling often with the United States Equestrian Team in the early 70's.

[9] On September 15, 1974, as a show horseman, he attended and participated in the Nassau Grand Prix at the North Shore Equestrian Center at C. W. Post College, Brookville, New York and acted as an honorary co-chair.

[14] Shapiro claimed to have given up Equestrian jumping in 1976 at the age of 38 in order to earn a living in another field, and harness racing was an important sideline during that period.

Working there as a trainer for 20 years, he trained Bon Vivant, a trotter, to more than $400,000 in earnings and the pacer Bomb Rickles to winnings of more than $500,000.

[17] In 1996, he entered Midnight Mattness in the tenth race, for the $150,000 John W. Miller Memorial Final, at Pocono Downs.

They married in 2002 and began Hayfever Farm in 2007 where they trained and taught students and horses to compete in hunting, jumping, and equitation.