MISSION & PROGRAMS

Mission:
OUR MISSION:
     To provide veterans and others in high-stress environments with essential tools to expand their capacity for healthy, authentic relationships through purposeful engagement with horses.
     
     OUR VISION:
     A country where men and women in uniform and others who work in high stress environments have the opportunity to enjoy the physical, mental and emotional freedom they dedicate their lives to protect our country, our communities and our families.
     
     All of our programs entail groundwork with horses, resilience tools and didactic material we call Emotional Agility. Not only is our work important to humans — but the programming with our equine partners is highly beneficial for them.

Our organization conducts Equine Assisted Services in accordance with the EQUUS Foundation Guidelines on Qualifications of Organizations Conducting Equine Assisted Services (EAS).
Our organization provides community outreach and/or public education programs involving horses.
Our organization is directly responsible for the care and shelter of some of the equines involved in our programs and some of the equines in our programs are cared for and sheltered by other organization(s).
100% of our total programs and services are horse-related.
Our organization does not use satellite, overflow, foster, and/or outreach facilities

Equine Assisted Services (EAS):
Our organization provides the following Equine Assisted Services (EAS):
    Equine-Assisted Learning involving Personal and/or Professional Development

1: Total number of Equine Assisted Service Providers at The Equus Effect

     1. David Sonatore, LCSW

         FACILITY PARTICIPATION:

         The Equus Effect

         RELATIONSHIP: Other

         SERVICES PROVIDED:

         Equine-Assisted Learning involving Personal and/or Professional Development

         DEGREES, LICENSES AND/OR CERTIFICATIONS

         David is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is an Eponaquest Equine Experiential Learning instructor, a Somatic Experiencing® advanced training graduate and a certified Martha Beck Coach.

David combines the academic and experiential training necessary to empower clients with what they need to move beyond trauma. He combines this with his keen intuition around horses and helps veterans and others in transition realize that they can become whole again.

Overview of our programs involved with providing EAS to individuals with special needs:
     We provide Equine-Assisted Learning to veterans, military family members, first responders, frontline health workers and others who have experienced shock or trauma in one form or another. Our program is trauma-sensitive in that we understand and respect both the external and internal manifestations of those whose nervous systems have been flooded with too much adrenaline, cortisol or pain either at once or over a period of time. We use body-based practices along with ground-based natural horsemanship skills and didactic material to empower veterans and other adults to move beyond self-limiting patterns of thought and behavior that keep them from enjoying success and fulfillment in their lives.
     
     We believe that healthy relationships are foundational to meaning and satisfaction in life — and our primary purpose is to give men and women the tools they need to return to their lives with renewed capacity for self management, energy and presence.
     
     We also believe that horses accelerate this process by helping participants see the ways in which unprocessed anger, depression, grief and agitation can hinder their ability to move forward in life. Gaining the trust and willingness to collaborate from a horse is not easy and we feel very strongly that by carefully breaking down that process through the horsemanship skills we teach and the didactic material we present gives clients a renewed sense of competence, confidence and optimism. They frequently report feeling that they have built the capacity to bring out the best in themselves.
     
     Trauma takes people out of the present and into fight, flight or freeze reactions to non-threatening situations. Their world is one of memories, reactivity, aggression or isolation. Trauma sufferers often put up barriers instead of healthy boundaries. They also lack the capacity to respond appropriately to others in their lives ... at home, work or school. So, while they may live with others, have jobs or go to school, trauma survivors often have a very difficult time maintaining the relationships that give meaning and purpose to life.
     
     Horses are amazing teachers and models of what is needed for an individual to build and maintain healthy relationships. Since how they feel is what they do, their trust is transparent and their willingness to cooperate (given the choice) is based on their honest assessment of any given person or situation. As is the case with most people, horses prefer honesty, fairness and finesse over force.
     
     Also, we provide a rigorous academic training curriculum to men and women from the coaching, horsemanship and healing arts who wish to become professional facilitators of The Equus Effect Program at our location — or at their own facilities. So, The Equus Effect is both a location (Sharon, CT) and a program that is hosted by trained facilitators at other locations with horses that belong either to the individuals or to the facilities where our curriculum is delivered.

Overview of our programs involved with providing community outreach and/or public education programs involving horses:
     As many folks know, the mental health crisis in our country is very real. We saw a lot of people from our community during Covid, which was understandable. What's happening now and what we're doing about it — is offering this work to clinicians, who are also experiencing compassion fatigue from client overload and just from the way things are going right now. We have offered afternoon workshops for clinicians and for their clients whose needs are not actually being met by talk therapy alone.
     
     PEOPLE OF COLOR - We were asked to do an offsite for a new team at a large corporation to support their efforts toward building a more inclusive work environment for their teams. Since horses respond well to authentic power and congruence, we have created a weekend program designed to elicit and cultivate team members' capacity for this. We are working with a DEI professional to address these issues among team members are are looking forward to exploring the addition of horses to their work.
     We are also grateful to have this opportunity to support the work we do for veterans and first responders, which is always free to them. We have also added two people of color to our Board of Directors and expect that our offerings for veterans of color will increase since one is a veteran herself and the other has been offering programs for veterans that use the arts as a means of supporting their journeys home. We hope that the addition of this talent on our team will add to our ability to reach more deeply into this community with programs that are relevant, meaningful and timely.
     
     
     FIRST RESPONDERS - We have added to our initial offering for groups of law enforcement professionals who were wounded in the line of duty and who are at risk of taking their own lives. We are partnering with Guardian Revival two other NGO's that support both fire fighters and law enforcement officers who are still working or who have just retired. We are very excited about the prospect of using our somatic experiencing tools to help them settle down and make better decisions on the job. While these programs are geared specifically to meet the acute needs of first responders who live in the same communities they serve, the basic principles of our curriculum remain the same.
     
     OTHER APPLICATIONS - Our curriculum is consistent and repeatable and we know that there are many applications and have used our approach with those who are grieving, at risk youth and those who are in transition from one phase of life to another for any number of reasons.

Research/Medical Use of Equines:
Our organization has never made, and would not ever consider making, equines available for research studies or medical training that involves invasive procedures and/or that which may cause pain or suffering to the equine. 

Religious Affiliation:
Our organization does not promote religious education, religious purposes, or a specific religious faith or use donations for religious education or religious purposes; require participants to be of a certain faith; require participation in religious, instruction, activities or services; or require participation in prayer, worship, religious instruction or other religious activities as a condition of receiving social or secular services offered. 

Auction Donation:
Our organization has never allowed, or would not consider allowing, an equine to be sold, transferred, released, or otherwise placed into possession of any person or organization that would cause or allow the equine to be sold at auction for slaughter. 

POLICIES: ACQUISITION

Our organization acquires horses/equines from the following source(s):
    Donation  

Our organization does not acquire horses/equines from the following source(s):
    Lease  
    Purchase/Adoption from Owner  
    Auction  
    Kill pen/Feedlot  
    Return  
    Surrender  
    Seizure  
    Abandonment  

Our organization will accept the following:
    Geldings
    Mares

Not Checked:
    Pregnant Mares
    Foals
    Stallions
    Only Stallions to be castrated

POLICIES: INTAKE, ASSESSMENT & TRAININING

Prior to a horse being accepted and/or arriving at the facility, the organization requires the following with respect to the health status of the horse:
    A current Coggins
    Vaccination records that have been administered within the last 12 months
    If health records are not available or are out-of-date, the owner is responsible for having vaccinations administered.
    If health records are not available or are out-of-date, our veterinarian will administer appropriate vaccinations

Prior to a horse being accepted and/or arriving at the facility, the organization has the following policies in place:
    The owner of a potential equine is interviewed over the phone or in person prior to seeing the equine
    The equine is evaluated at its place of residence
    The owner completes an application/contract which constitutes the agreement between the owner and our organization
    The owner is financially responsible for the shipping of the equine to and from the organization
    Equines are not taken on trial

Following arrival of the equine at the facility, the following is performed:
    Physical examination by a veterinarian upon arrival and/or prior to quarantine departure
    Physical examination by trained barn staff
    Photographs are taken of each equine upon arrival at the facility and kept with the equine's health records
    A Henneke Body Conditioning Score or other body conditioning score is assigned
    Physical examination by a farrier
    Physical examination by a dentist
    Coggins test
    Vaccinations
    De-worming

Upon intake, the organization has the following quarantine policy in place:
    The equine is confined to a designated and separate area for isolation and quarantine at the facility for a prescribed period of time

The typical length of quarantine is:   Up to 10 days

Horses are assessed for following skills and behaviors:
    Retrieval from a pasture/paddock
    Leading with a halter and lead rope
    Temperament, disposition and attitude, such as rated from very calm to very high spirited
    Lunging
    Loading onto and unloading off a trailer
    Mounting and dismounting
    Riding at the walk
    Riding at the trot
    Riding at the canter
    Tolerance to unusual objects and loud noises
    Known vices, i.e., cribbing, biting, kicking, weaving, stall walking, etc
    Grooming
    Bathing

Our organization has the following policies and procedures in place pertaining to the ongoing assessment of horses in its care:
    Equines at our facility may be treated by an equine chiropractor
    Equines at our facility may be treated by an equine acupuncturist
    Equines at our facility may be treated by an equine massage therapist
    Equines at our facility may be treated by an equine nutritionist
    Physical examination by a veterinarian at least annually
Our organization has the following policies and procedures in place pertaining to the weight-carrying or workload capabilities of horses/equines that are ridden in our care:
    No equines are ridden; not applicable

The following variables are considered in determining the weight-carrying and workload limitations for each equine that is ridden:
    No equines are ridden; not applicable


Horses provided formal training (groundwork or riding):   2-3 times per week

Additional information about our intake, assessment & training policies and practices:
Since our program is based on groundwork, our primary concern is social in nature. Our horses have to be safe to work with for staff, volunteers and for the participants, most of whom are beginners.
     
     We would hope that horses are sold with an honest assessment of their abilities and limitations. We are not averse to most, but would want to know up front what we are facing.
     
     Were we to take in a new horse, we have two places to quarantine for 10 or more days: the open and covered round pen - depending upon the weather and the covered pen is 25' from the nearest pasture and the open round pen is at least 150' from the nearest pasture.

POLICIES: BREEDING

The organization has the following policies related to breeding and stallions:
    The facility or facilities where our organization conducts its programs, including foster facilities, does NOT breed equines.

POLICIES: EUTHANASIA

The organization has the following policies related to euthanasia:
    Our organization will never have an equine euthanized for space
    Our organization will never have a healthy equine euthanized under any circumstances
    Our organization may have an equine euthanized upon the recommendation of the veterinarian after all reasonable treatment options have been explored
    Euthanasia is done on site when possible to decrease trauma from transport
    Disposal of the carcass is handled within 24 hours

The following are authorized to administer the procedure for your organization in accordance with state laws:
    Veterinarian

POLICIES: RE-HOMING

Re-homing Agreement not applicable.
Our organization has the following re-homing (adoption/purchase) policies and procedures in place:
    The organization does not re-home equines under any circumstances; our organization retains custody of our equines and ensures care of the equines for their lifetimes.

Our organization has the following policies and procedures related to horses that need to be retired, are no longer useful, or are no longer manageable:
    The organization does not re-home equines under any circumstances; our organization retains custody of our equines and ensures care of the equines for their lifetimes.