About
The Freedom Way®
Why We Exist
The Freedom Way® was created from a shared knowing: that horses are not tools, techniques, or backdrops for human transformation, but sentient partners with wisdom, presence, and agency of their own.
When people connect with horses in a meaningful way, something profound happens. Horses meet us without agenda or judgment. They respond not to what we say, but to what we carry—our energy, emotions, intentions, and internal state. In their presence, clarity emerges. Truth surfaces. What has been hidden, avoided, or intellectualized becomes visible and felt.
This is the essence of equine-assisted coaching, and why The Freedom Way® exists.
Our Story
Both founders, Diana Gogan and Janice Story, have carried a lifelong love of horses. Long before professional titles or certifications, horses were teachers, offering grounding, clarity, healing, and deep personal transformation. Through their own lived experiences, each came to understand the profound impact horses can have when they are truly seen, respected, and partnered with, not used.
As their work with people and horses deepened, both Diana and Janice felt called to bring this healing potential to others. They explored existing equine-assisted training programs, hoping to find an approach that matched how they naturally worked: intuitive, centered, relational, and energetically attuned.
They did not find it.
What they encountered felt overly structured, scripted, and outcome-driven. In many models, the horse was treated as a means to an end, its sentient nature and non-verbal communication often overlooked. The intuitive and energetic dimensions of the work were minimized or excluded altogether.
That disconnect mattered.
Both Diana and Janice had experienced firsthand what is possible when horses are engaged as conscious participants in the process. In those moments—standing quietly with a horse, moving alongside them, or simply being witnessed—people often experience insights that cannot be accessed through conversation alone.
Horses have a remarkable ability to bring truth forward without force. They reveal patterns, boundaries, emotional states, and internal conflicts with honesty and grace. For Diana and Janice, this wasn’t theoretical. It was lived, embodied experience. And it became clear that any training worthy of this work needed to honor that depth.
The Beginning of The Freedom Way®
One day, Janice called Diana with a simple but powerful question: What if we created the training we wished existed? Diana said yes, without hesitation. And The Freedom Way® was born.
“What if we created the training we wished existed?”
They envisioned a training where coaches would learn not just what to do, but how to be—with clients, with horses, and with themselves. A model where intuition is developed alongside skill, and where the horse’s voice is listened to as carefully as the client’s.
The Freedom Way® emerged from this vision: a training grounded in respect, presence, and the transformative potential that arises when humans and horses meet in authenticity.
The Foundation of Our Work
From the beginning, The Freedom Way® was built on shared values and lived experience, not trends or shortcuts. Our training is designed around discernment, presence, and the belief that this work deserves both heart and professionalism.
Just as importantly, Diana and Janice wove in what they learned through years of building successful private coaching practices—business foundations, ethical clarity, and sustainable structures. This saves coaches time, money, and unnecessary struggle, so they can focus on what truly matters: serving clients with depth, integrity, and confidence.
Today, The Freedom Way® is recognized as a thought leader in the equine-assisted coaching industry. We set a standard rooted in discernment, respect for the horse–human partnership, and the belief that this work deserves both heart and professionalism.
Meet the Co-Founders
The Freedom Way® is co-led by two trainers whose strengths are complementary and deeply aligned: professional skill, intuitive depth, and unwavering respect for the horse as partner in the work.
Together, Diana and Janice hold a shared reverence for what unfolds when humans slow down enough to truly meet a horse. They teach coaches how to recognize these moments, protect them, and facilitate them with integrity—so that the work remains grounded, ethical, and deeply impactful.
Diana Gogan
Co-Founder & Freedom Way® Trainer
Diana Gogan is a teacher, mentor, and guide who seamlessly blends practical mastery with spiritual depth in equine-assisted coaching. Her work is known for its clarity, presence, and transformative impact, helping coaches build practices that are not only effective, but deeply aligned with who they are.
As a Freedom Way® Trainer, Diana guides students to take the foundational principles of equine-assisted coaching and integrate them with their own strengths, intuition, and lived experience. She believes that when people and horses work together, possibilities expand, and that there are no limits to what can unfold when the partnership is honored.
Diana encourages every student to place their own signature on their work, rather than fitting into a predetermined mold. Her approach supports coaches in standing out with confidence, integrity, and authenticity, creating spaces where true transformation can occur.
Diana is an NLP Master Coach, Equine Assisted Coaching Professional, Reiki Master/Teacher, Shamanic practitioner, published author, speaker, and Co-Founder of The Freedom Way®.
Learn more about Diana at DianaGogan.com.
Janice Story
Co-Founder & Freedom Way® Trainer
Janice Story brings over thirty years of horsemanship into her work as an Equine Coach, along with deep training in mind, body, and spirit healing. A certified Reiki Master/Teacher, published author, and speaker, Janice is known for her compassionate presence and steady, grounding energy.
Her work is shaped by her own healing journey and by the profound relationships she shares with her herd of seven horses, each of whom played an essential role in her transformation. Together, Janice and her equine partners create a space of safety, attunement, and possibility for those navigating physical, emotional, or spiritual trauma.
Janice’s gentle strength and intuitive awareness allow clients and students to feel seen, supported, and met exactly where they are. She believes deeply in the wisdom of the horse and in the power of partnership that goes far beyond what human interaction alone can offer.
Learn more about Janice at JaniceStory.com
Our Commitment
Setting the Standard for Equine-Assisted Coach Training
The Freedom Way® exists to train equine-assisted coaches who understand that transformation does not come from techniques alone—but from presence, attunement, and meaningful connection.
This work invites people out of their heads and back into relationship—with themselves, with the horse, and with the moment unfolding in front of them. Horses help reveal what is true, what is ready to shift, and what needs care. Our role as coaches is to listen, to support, and to hold space with integrity.
This is not about scripting outcomes.
It is about honoring what arises.