Shamans and Horses Work Magic on Autistic Boy

Rupert Isaacson decided to take his five-year-old  autistic son on a three-week trek across Mongolia on horseback, his wife thought he’d gone crazy.  Rowan was autistic: incontinent, uncommunicative and given to fearsome bouts of nerve-shredding screeching, even at home.

Rupert had noticed that Rowan responded positively to a neighbor's horse, he also had learned about Shaman from Mongolia who were  reported to have strong healing power. He combined the 2 experiences and went to Mongolia in 2007.

“Three months ago he had no maths, now he’s exactly where he should be,” Isaacson says. “He’s started drawing. He’s doing chores to save up for a baby chick. We went away to Mongolia with a kid who was subject to neurological fits, who was incontinent and completely cut off from his peers. He is still autistic, but he’s no longer suffering from these major dysfunctions which were impairing his quality of life – and ours.”

Rowan is seven now. He is educated at New Trails, a special centre set up by his parents near Austin, Texas, with the money from their publishing advance. At the New Trails centre, autistic children are given time to spend with horses, rabbits and goats. One of the problems with the endless round of behavioural and occupational therapy Rowan had in his early years was his rigidity, Isaccson says; at New Trails the children can interact with the animals at their own pace.

Rowan's adventure was filmed and made into a documentary:
Over the Hills and Far Away, a documentary filmed during the journey.
View Trailer here - http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2898395673/

Read an in-depth story here:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5779851.ece

Rupert wrote a book about the experience - The Horse Boy - available at amazon

The Horse Boy Foundation - http://www.horseboyfoundation.org/