The 2009 documentary ‘The Horse Boy’ follows the journey of a young autistic boy and his family as they explore the possibilities of equine therapy in Mongolia.
It all began with a bay quarter horse named Betsy – progressing to a journey around Mongolia, filming a documentary, the writing of a book and the development of the Horse Boy Method.
THE HORSE BOY – 2009 documentary directed by Michel Orion Scott
In 2004, Rowan Isaacson had been diagnosed with autism when he was two-and-a-half. He had stopped speaking, retreated into himself and would scream inconsolably.
His parents had sought out the best medical care, but orthodox therapies had little effect. Rowan’s British father, Rupert, who had been a rider and trainer, was a human rights worker and author. His American mother, Kristin Neff, was a psychology professor.
One day, Rowan ran away from his father, broke through the fence of their neighbour’s paddock and into the midst of a mob of horses. Protective Betsy pushed all of them away from the little boy.
Rowan Isaacson and his father, Rupert, riding together.
“All his agitated
behaviour went away.”
After several visits to the old Quarter Horse, he insisted on being lifted onto her back. “I knew she was quiet, so I picked him up, let him lie on her and all his agitated behaviour went away,” recalls Rupert. He adds that within six weeks of Rowan getting up on the mare, he was forming sentences.
In the saddle over the next four years, father and son rode together with Rowan learning the alphabet and basic maths.
“Honestly it felt like the gates of heaven were opening up to us,” Rupert says, describing how it felt to see the behavioural changes before and after he rode with his son. “We had a completely different child.”
He began to wonder if there was somewhere in the world which combined horses and healing. The answer was Mongolia where the horse was first domesticated. It is a country which is sparsely populated, where there is an abundance of nomadic life and where shamanism is practised by many of its people.
Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner – the shaman – interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purposes of healing, divination or to aid human beings in some way.
OFF TO MONGOLIA
In 2007, the Isaacsons departed from their home in Texas for the nomadic encampments of Mongolia, complete with a film crew headed by first-time director Michel Orion Scott, who had met Rupert Isaacson a year earlier.
The film poster for ‘The Horse Boy’ (2009).
“I saw him at an event for a book he was writing about the Bushmen in Africa,” says Rupert. “I was trying to find a shift in my career and was looking for more projects. I was interested in nature and about the human rights thing about the Kalahari Bushmen, so we came up with a plan to make a documentary. But about three months later the Bushmen won their human rights case, so the urgency for a film wasn’t as strong.” Rupert told Michel about the Mongolian trip and asked if he’d like to come.
“It was an incredible challenge technically and I had to plan for about six months. Then when we were in Mongolia, riding and filming at the same time, with saddle bags mounted with sound mixers – it was quite a feat.
“Jeremy, our sound guy, was actually doing some mixing while riding. It was difficult, but stunningly beautiful. It was a great adventure for the family, really gratifying. And I tried my best to step back, be a filmmaker, and let the family have the adventure that they did.”
He recalls that the second day of riding was physically the hardest. “I was pushing myself to get every single detail holding the camera in one hand and the reins in the other. I had to take a break on the second day. I was lying on the ground, and Rowan came over and walked on my back – I was so sore and it felt great!
“We shot about 200 hours of footage, therefore there was a lot of editing to do considering the film runs only about 95 minutes.”
The first time he watched the finished documentary with a large audience was at the Sundance Film Festival 2009.
“I was horrified when it started, fearing everyone would hate it and boo when it finished. To my surprise they cheered. They really loved it! At that point I had so many hugs, so many laughs – I cried with the audience too.
Rowan Isaacson riding with his parents in Mongolia.
“To make a film that’s not going to please everyone but can still make people cry, laugh and change their lives is amazing. I made a lot of friends through it.”
Rowan’s parents divorced in 2021. Neff is an associate professor at Texas University in the educational psychology department. She is recognised as a pioneering researcher in the academic study of self-compassion.
Fourteen years after the film’s release it was reported that Rowan, now in his 20s, attends community college, lives independently, owns a car, and has made significant improvements in his verbal communication skills. Reflecting upon all these improvements, his father says: “There are times when I look at him and go, ‘wow, you were non-verbal and incontinent once.’ That person is a memory now. He’s still autistic but he’s super functional.”
REVIEWS
“For both the parents and the filmmakers, the journey of ‘The Horse Boy’ was tough and utterly unpredictable, but their act of faith has produced a film that’s surprisingly upbeat, even-handed and imbued with wonder.” – HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“A solid DVD presentation of a highly dubious documentary experience.” – SLANT MAGAZINE
Rowan and his father with a Mongolian shaman.
“I cried with the
audience too.”
With a group of specialists, Rupert Isaacson also developed The Horse Boy equine therapy treatments for autism spectrum disorder now used in about 30 countries. Some have embraced the concept while others are dismissive or sceptical about his methods, which are not backed up by solid research.
As one psychotherapist wrote: “Essentially, it’s a sweet film that didn’t tell us anything new about humans and horses, despite Rupert breathlessly mansplaining equine therapy to us and virtue-signalling being a great (well-resourced) autism parent.”
Maybe simply watch the documentary as a piece of engaging filmmaking. It’s available on DVD and via various streamers. EQ
Equestrian Life does not condone riding without a helmet.
Next time in Horses & Movies, ‘Heartland’, a Canadian series which has been screening from 2007. In recent years, Australia’s Dan James of Double Dan Horsemanship has regularly been supplying horses and stunt riders for the production.
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