Staff
About our Staff
All Staff members are Certified Shakti Ranch EAL Facilitators. In addition, some Staff have a background as clinical psychologists and/or somatic experiencing practitioners. All Staff are trauma-informed practitioners with a strong competency in creating safe and therapeutic equine assisted learning sessions for individual clients as well as groups.
Moriah Stapf
Moriah is an Associate Marriage and Family therapist. She has a masters degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. Moriah is trained in somatic psychotherapy as well as being a graduate of Shakti Ranch’s Equine Assisted Learning program. Moriah grew up with horses and has always felt most grounded and at ease in their presence. She has personally experienced the powerful healing benefit of these sentient beings and now is honored to provide Equine Assisted Therapy to a wide variety of individuals. When Moriah isn’t at the barn, she is usually hiking with her dog Kona, eating yummy meals with friends, enjoying live music, or spending time with her family.
Emma Barnosky
Emma is a certified Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator, PhD candidate, and Somatic Practitioner who bridges her scientific expertise and intuitive understanding of the horse-human partnership to help individuals and groups find deeper connection with themselves and the world around them. At the core of her work is the understanding that humans, like horses, are hardwired to be social, connected creatures—we are biologically and spiritually meant to exist in relationship. However, cultural norms, upbringing, and life experience can create circumstances that get in the way of the authentic relationships that our nervous systems and psyches need which, in turn, can lead to anxiety, depression, and pervasive loneliness (among other forms of dis-ease). Emma and her equine co-facilitators take an experiential approach to effectively dismantle such barriers. Equine and somatic work are unique in that they do not require clients to talk about what has happened to them. Instead, they thaw barriers to connection through nervous system regulation, relational skill building, and refined self awareness. As Dr. Peter Levine has famously shared, "trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathic witness." Emma and her equine co-facilitators serve as empathic witnesses for clients hoping to shift into this more connected and authentic way of being.
Lara Plutte
Lara brings decades of work as a therapist & mindfulness teacher to support others in their own healing. She has a Masters degree in Social Work & the arts, certifications in Mindfulness Meditation Facilitation, Somatic Therapy, Eco Therapy & Equine Assisted Learning through Shakti Ranch. It is in the powerfully therapeutic presence of horses that Lara has found the most profound place for healing. It is an honor she feels to work together with these ancient sentient beings - masters of heart-based presence, integrity & grace - to reveal our own truths, strengths, skills, possibilities & power to heal. Lara is a mom to two young men & a small zoo of other sentient beings. She loves most to be nature, because nature is home.
Eloisa Ribeiro
Eloisa is a dedicated Equine Assisted Learning facilitator with a profound passion for harnessing the transformative power of horses in the healing journey. Her connection with horses began at her family farm in Brazil, where she spent her formative summers immersed in their companionship. This early experience laid the foundation for her belief in the unique ability of horses to guide individuals toward greater self-awareness and a deeper connection with nature.
Her professional journey includes certification in Equine Assisted Learning through Shakti Ranch, certification in animal soul channeling, and she is currently in the process of completing her certification in family constellation and horse constellation. Eloisa began her work as an assistant in Equine Leadership Therapy, collaborating with both individuals and corporate groups. Additionally, she has enriched her personal learning through her experiences in Argentina, where she studied Doma India.
Eloisa resides with her husband, son, two dogs, and a cat, finding fulfillment in the companionship of animals and the serenity of nature. Her commitment to guiding clients through their personal healing journeys with horses reflects her deep dedication to her own growth, enabling her to better serve both horses and humans in their healing journeys.