Meet the Staff
Jane Strong, SEP, IFS, Trained
Executive Director
Co-founder, Lead Facilitator
Eponaquest Equine Experiential Learning Instructor
Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner
Certified Enneagram Teacher
IFS Trained
Jane began her relationship with horses as a competitive rider. When she left that world behind, she never thought that horses would become an integral part of her life again because she couldn’t imagine anything other than what she knew then.
For 30 years, she worked as a research professional, executive coach and enneagram teacher — helping people in the business world take back the reins in their professional and personal lives. It was only after returning to horses and horsemanship though a friend that she realized what she had been missing for a very long time —horses.. Far beyond competing for ribbons, there was another kind of relationship with these great, sentient beings that soon became her life’s passion..
Learning about horses for who they are rather than simply what they can do for us as athletes opened up an entirely different way of relating to them. Understanding the power of finesse versus force and collaboration rather than control was a journey of letting go, becoming more authentic and making friends with vulnerability.
The curriculum she and her partner David created is a reflection of what they both learned for themselves over the past 20 years. It arises out of an aim to become more authentic, more inner directed and more sensitive to what really matters.in all aspects of life. Because the curriculum grew out of her own lived experience, she believes that anyone who wants to live a more reality-based, authentic life can get a leg up through The Equus Effect curriculum.
The program is grounded in four principles that reflect the reality of what it takes for many to build healthy relationships s to life for clients because these were the steps she took to get here. has helped thousands of participantshas had a tremendous impact on clients’ capacity to manage themselves and connect with others in a much more effective, respectful and satisfying way..
She brings her group facilitation skills and fascination with the human psyche to this work. She understands that horses have a lot to teach us about authenticity and more creative ways to view the world and each other because she experienced this herself. She learned firsthand . how we come across to others and how to change the ways we show up in life. Most important, she recognized the nature of stories and triggers that highjack our nervous systems take us out of relationships.
The ability to recognize that in ourselves and acquire tools to ‘come back on line’ are some of the most important and impactful aspects of building authentic relationships with others.
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She is an accredited Experiential Learning with Horses Instructor who graduated from the Eponaquest Program in Tucson, AZ in 2005 and became a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner® in 2015 and completed her Level I IFS training in 2017.
Prior to returning to a life centered around working with horses, she was a professional coach and facilitator who has taught leaders and individuals how to ‘take back the reins’ in their own lives. She’s coached young people and adults through transitions from school to careers, recovery to sobriety, burnout, compassion fatigue and transitions at home and work.
In 2009, she and David Sonatore, LCSW learned about the rising suicide rate among veterans and decided to focus their attention on this group of men and women who were often resistant to talk therapy and whose symptoms were often only masked by medication. They based their program on what they had learned at Eponaquest Program, Somatic Experiencing® and work with Buck Brannaman, whose approach to horsemanship fits perfectly with the healthy, authentic relationship tools they teach at The Equus Effect.
Jane is a Certified Enneagram Teacher, has studied with the Coaches Training Institute, the Center for Authentic Leadership and the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
Since The Equus Effect’s inception in 2012, Jane and David have broadened the reach of this work to include law enforcement, firefighters, frontline health workers and people in recovery from substance abuse. To date, they have seen over 2,500 men and women who understand the value of this type of empowering work that helps build capacity for healthy, authentic relationships.
In response to the success and advocacy from clinicians and veterans themselves, the VA and a team of clinicians and analysts at Yale have just completed a pilot study of this curriculum among a trans-diagnostic sample of veterans and results will be published in the fall of 2023.
I've worked with horses as contributors to the conversation around the right use of power and for the past 20 years. Because horses engage all of our senses, they invite us to be 100% present. hey invite us to discover new ways of understanding ourselves. and each other.
This work is both serious and fun, energizing and relaxing, easy to understand and deeply meaningful. It is both profound and practical.
And, the applications are endless
– JS
David Sonatore, LCSW, SEP,
Program Director
Co-founder, Lead Facilitator
Eponaquest Equine Experiential Learning Instructor
Somatic Experiencing® Advanced Training Graduate
Certified Martha Beck Coach
David is a certified Experiential Learning with Horses Instructor. He also graduated from the Eponaquest Program in Tucson, AZ in 2005. He brings his inherent gifts of compassion, curiosity and intuition to this work and has an uncanny sense of identifying the human concerns that lie beneath the surface.
In his unique, gentle way, David is able to help veterans and others we work with learn how to make sense out of feelings and discover new ways of seeing through old patterns so that they can move from surviving to thriving.
He’s also a therapist with a private practice in NYC and Bedford, NY and is a certified Dr. Martha Beck Life Coach (frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and O Magazine columnist). David developed his clinical skills by working with inmates in the New York State Correctional system and outpatient clients at the psychiatric clinic of St. Vincent’s Hospital in NYC. David has also completed his final year of study at the Somatic Experiencing Training Institute where he is honing his skills as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner.
David’s father served in World War II, so he also has a deep understanding of the impact that military service can have on relationships at home, work and school.
Inviting clients out of traditional settings and into this remarkably unique and natural environment expedites trust, creativity and freedom. People can explore their own true nature and discover their own best solutions more quickly and with meaningful results.
– DS
The horses have a lot to say.
Once we learn to pause, listen, and come back to our senses, the “noise” fades away and we are left with more space in life to deal with what really matters. I am pleased to combine all of my worlds with this work, and to help people find their way back home to their authentic selves. PG
Patty Ganey
PATH CTRI, PATH ESMHL
Senior Facilitator
Facilitator Trainer
Patty grew up in a family of first responders, and her son is now serving as an officer in the Navy. She knows first hand the toll the work that our military and first responders takes on family life.
For over 20 years, Patty has been involved with horses; teaching riding to special needs individuals through traditional mounted therapeutic riding. She witnessed that everyone involved - volunteers, family members, and staff, as well as the rider, all felt something shift after spending time with the horses. This curiosity about how being around horses can positively affect a person led her to certify as a facilitator at The Equus Effect.
Our program does not focus on diagnostics and prescriptive goals, but rather, on meeting people wherever they are on their journeys in life. We teach that reactions to overwhelm and chronic stress remain in the nervous system until they are processed and discharged, and the horses help us uncover and dissolve these barriers to healthy living.
Patty believes that giving people tools to deal with stress, leads to a greater capacity to be more present – and has a natural inclination to work with military and first responder families.
As a competitive equestrian, experienced eventer, dressage rider and fox hunter. Patty brings connections and a broad knowledge of horses to The Equus Effect.
Donnaldson Brown, JD, RYT-500
Senior Facilitator
Facilitator Trainer
Donnaldson came to The Equus Effect as a longtime yoga and meditation instructor and a life-long rider, who knows first-hand the efficacy of body-based practices in helping to regulate a nervous system out of balance as a result of complex or situational stress and trauma. The wife of a veteran, she was eager to deepen her work with those returning home from long tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in 2015 trained with the Veterans Yoga Project to teach trauma-sensitive yoga to veterans.
Having ridden horses from the time she was eight with cowboys on a family ranch in Texas and going on to compete nationally in equitation and hunters, she has always been keenly aware of the connection between horses and humans and was thrilled to learn of The Equus Effect’s unique program of experiential learning to help bring those suffering with post-traumatic stress injuries back into relationship with themselves and their loved ones.
Donnaldson’s approach to facilitating incorporates her warmth, compassion and humor to support all participants in re-connecting with their essential selves.
The Equus Effect is a program like no other, with roots in the most current study of neurobiology and social science, it offers experiential learning that is both challenging and energizing. Watching the horses, who by virtue of their presence and honesty, support, and even accelerate, the process of restoring balance and connection into the lives of those who have given so much never ceases to humble and amaze me. I am profoundly grateful to be working with this talented and committed cohort—both equine and human!
– DB
Tracie Shannon
Senior Facilitator
Tracie is a Reiki Master and Instructor who also does equine massage. She provides a deep understanding of horses and human nature that is both enlightening and useful to our veterans. Her role with us is to keep our horses emotionally and mentally safe as well as to provide insights into the veterans’ experience that most of us don’t see.
Tracie lives and practices in Lakeville, CT.
Tracie is a Reiki Master and Instructor who also does equine massage. She provides a deep understanding of horses and human nature that is both enlightening and useful to our veterans. Her role with us is to keep our horses emotionally and mentally safe as well as to provide insights into the veterans' experience that most of us don't see. Tracie lives and practices in Lakeville, CT.
– TS
Janice Sibilia
Program Logistics - Volunteer Coordinator
Expert Horsewoman
Dave Wagman
Cohort & Volunteer Coordinator
Guardian Revival
Team Chief, Peer Services Division
Cathleen Halloran
Barn Manager
Expert Horsewoman