Horse Boy : A Father's Quest to Heal His Son

By Rupert Isaacson

Book Overview

Rupert Isaacson is a Lifelong Horseman Who Dreamed of Sharing his Passion with his son, Rowan. When Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert was devastated-would they ever be able to communicate, much less go for a ride? Then something extraordinary happened. On a walk near their home one day, Rowan dodged under a fence and ran beneath the hooves of a neighbor's horse. Instead of trampling him, the mare dipped her head and stood perfectly still. Rupert saw immediately that his son had a real connection with the horse. Rupert began taking Rowan for rides on Betsy, and Rowan started to speak and to improve remarkably. Soon Rupert had a crazy, impossible idea: What if there were a place in the world where horses and healing came together? What if Rowan's autism were the gateway to adventure? The adventure of a lifetime. The Horse Boy is the heart-wrenching true story of the journey taken by Rupert, his wife, Kristin, and Rowan through the untamed landscape of Outer Mongolia. The family travels halfway around the world to ride horseback across that land together, and to meet the traditional healers there, heirs to centuries of discipline and inspiration. It is an astounding trek, full of challenges, the unexpected, beauty, and extraordinary advances. Perhaps more inspiring than the changes Rowan goes through is the power of this father's love for his son. This is an unforgettable story that shows that even in our darkest moments we can discover joy, that healing can arrive in unexpected ways, and that the magical and the mundane can come together to transform our lives. Rupert Isaacson was born in London to African parents. His first book, The Healing Land, was selected by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and son. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316056065
• ISBN13: 9780316056069
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Little Brown & Company
• Length: 357 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

good reading

Horse Boy is informative, exciting, and a flowing read. I have a son with autism, and I could relate to the daily strange circumstances a family is in with autism! I especially liked the combination of humor and "tragic" reality. I can't wait for my bookclub to discuss it!

The best book I have ever read

I have had the privilege of working with autistic children in hippotherapy and theraputic riding settings, and was definately looking forward to reading this book. What these parents have done for this child is absolutely remarkable - it shows what perserverence, love and open-mindedness can do. When mainstream therapy did not work, they stumbled upon the amazing and fascinating relationship between an autistic child and animals, most specifically, horses. Whether or not you are a horseperson, or have insight into autism, the book is well written, and those things are well explained. This is a very moving and uplifting book, and I can't wait to read an update on Rowan's life.

A travel book like no other: unforgettable

To be the parent of an autistic child like Rowan Isaacson --- I can't imagine it. Life gets reduced to tantrums and the space between them. Toilet training is an impossible goal; once a day, maybe more, you declare "Code Brown". Even a small thing, like your kid playing well with others, is an impermissible dream. I could say it's crueler still that Kristin, Rowan's mother, is a professor of psychology at the University of Austin in Texas, and that Rupert, his father, is a horse trainer and writer of considerable skill. But really, it's not crueler. Autism is a leveler --- it destroys marriages at every level of the cultural scale. And then, of course, there's the kid, trapped inside, with a life sentence. You know, going in, that there's a happy ending to The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son. The cover shouts it: the boy on a horse, arm raised in triumph, and the father, holding him, ecstatic in the moment. That picture is something I turned to often as I read. Because this autism thing, it's really hard. I'd read about it before, but when you're reading a father talking about his hopeless kid --- that's hard. A cure? Good luck. Autism is contained. Dealt with. Adjusted to. No cure exists. But Rupert Isaacson noticed that when Rowan went into the woods, he got calm. And then came the day that Rowan ran into the neighbor's horse pasture. He ended up in front of the "alpha mare", a big horse called Betsy. And Betsy stopped. She dipped her head. Isaacson writes: "I knew I was witnessing something extraordinary. The mare was spontaneously submitting to the child on the ground before her. In all the years that I had been training horses, I had never seen this happen. My son had some kind of direct link to the horse." "And then I cried, the tears coming silent and unbidden on that humid June day, because I thought: 'He's got it. He's got the horse gene. But he's autistic. I'll never be able to share it with him. Never be able to teach him to ride. Never share this joy with my son.'" "It's stunning how wrong a parent can be." But then Rupert Isaacson gets it right. It sounds crazy, even to him, but he gets an idea: "Northern Mongolia, the place where the horse evolved, the last place on Earth with wild horses, was also the place where the word shaman --- literally 'he who knows' --- came from." So he'll take his son to Mongolia. And there, perhaps, he will find what eludes him in the West: a healing. He writes a book proposal, and, to his astonishment, gets a huge advance. A film crew appears. And off Rowan, Rupert and Kristin go. I have read many travel books about the East; the combination of the exotic and the spiritual is catnip for me. I've never read one remotely like this. Easy to figure out why: The stakes seem higher here --- not just personal salvation but the future of a child. You may not have to deal with autism. But the moral of the story is universal. When you're confronted with a problem that blights your life, don

The Horse Boy

I just finished The Horse Boy and recommend it highly. It's beautifully-written, honest, and in places very funny. As the mother of a 23-year-old son with moderate to severe autism, I didn't close the book and make plane reservations for Mongolia. My husband and I will never take our son to visit Shamans, anywhere, as a matter of fact, but that doesn't mean we don't agree with the theme of the book. Rupert Isaacson's story encourages families to keep living, even when faced with the challenges of autism. That's certainly a message I can agree with, having lived with autism for 20 years. While The Horse Boy describes a life-changing adventure, it doesn't claim that the trip cured Rowan's autism. But Rowan improved in a couple key areas while they were away and the journey changed their whole family. They all came home happier and stronger and closer to one another--and, in turn, better able to face autism without letting it get them down.