Rupert Isaacson believes riding has transformed his autistic son. Now he wants others to benefit from his experience. But is it too good to be true?

Rupert Isaacson with his son Rowan at a horse boy camp on the Cowal peninsula, Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

It’s a windswept, freezing January afternoon on a remote beach in Scotland, and I’m watching four horses, each with a child on its back, plodding across the pebbles. Eight-year-old Rowan Isaacson is standing beside me on the beach. Like the other children, he is autistic: unlike them, he can carry on a conversation, speaks clearly and is toilet-trained – but only since 2007. According to Rowan’s father, Rupert, his extraordinary “recovery” from some of the most difficult aspects ofautism came about through his love of horses – a love affair that culminated in a month-long, adventure-packed trip to Mongolia.

It’s a compelling tale of the lengths to which one couple are prepared to go to make their child better. Not surprisingly, the phenomenon of a little boy with autism, whose symptoms melted away once he climbed on to a horse, delighted the media – and the resulting book, The Horse Boy, made it on to the New York Times bestseller list. Almost inevitably, there are now plans for a feature film.

But does their experience have anything to offer other families? Here on this beach, Rupert and Rowan are trying to prove it does. They are over in Britain from their home in Texas (Rupert is British, but his wife, Kristin Neff, is American, and the couple have lived there for many years) to run what they are calling a horse boy camp for other families who, like them, live with autism every day.  … Continue Reading