The Horse Boy Method and Movement Method have been developed over the past decade to specifically target neuro‐psychiatric conditions such as autism, ADD/ADHD, anxiety/depression, trauma, PTSD, eating disorders, learning disabilities and anything else that affects the nervous system and the brain.

From an initial dream of just one father, Rupert Isaacson, and his autistic son Rowan in Texas in 2004, both Horse Boy and Movement Method has grown beyond anyone's wildest imaginings, now serving tens of thousands of families per week in over 20 countries because of it's effectiveness.

When a child sits astride a horse in collected movements, that movement causes the body to produce the happiness and communication hormone, oxytocin.   This switches off the cell danger response in the brain that blocks learning and which is particularly acute in people with autism and related conditions. This movement also builds the brain (what scientist call neuro‐plasticity) because the same movement targets the cerebellum, vestibular system, prefrontal cortex, and also helps the brain create a protein (BDNF – Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor) that causes the IQ to go up.

Our horses are highly trained in the Classical Dressage Methods to facilitate this process, and can be used with both practitioner and child together in the saddle, which also adds deep pressure and the chance to feed information into the child’s ear without the stress of eye contact or, if the person is too big to share the saddle we use a combination of ridden work, or long reins so as to keep the horse in the collected balance needed for this work. 

As both Horse Boy and Movement Method practitioners, we are trained not just to work with the horse but also with play equipment and small animals.  In this way we are able to follow the child’s interest no matter whether the child wants to be on or off of the horse.  A child‐led approach is integral to this work ensuring that the child never thinks they are in therapy and therefore never resists learning. We can not only create the same oxytocin effect in any situation but can also teach social/life skills and even academics this way.

We work as much as possible out of the arena and in nature because that is where communication with the outside world is to be found. Rule based games, academics, theory of mind and self‐advocacy are all taught through Horse Boy and Movement Method. It is also a family‐centric approach in which parents and siblings are offered services and empowered as consultants in the process.

Most unusually, the Horse Boy and Movement Method programmes were mentored by autists for autists this creates the overall underlying sense that autism and its related conditions are not in fact problems that need fixing, but rather the gifts of these conditions are amazing talents that need to be nurtured and explored.

If you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact us either by email or phone.