The Horse Boy - anyone else see this?
**Major spoilers for the film The Horse Boy**
Last night I watched the feature documentary The Horse Boy on PBS. I had heard about it through both autism and horse groups, so was very interested. The morning after, I am still digesting parts and need probably to rewatch it. I'm not sure why it has left me so jumbled, unable to say either "wow, I really liked it" or "huh, I really didn't."
Actually I am sure, but the reason sounds stupid. It's because it didn't ask or answer the questions I would have asked (and did, out loud). I felt it set viewers up with certain expectations, but didn't follow up with conjecture or explanation when they fell through.
Maybe I feel this way because I have explored treatments and therapies for Shrek and for others and in doing so, ask lots of questions. So perhaps I see the journey too clinically. Or am too focused on the little things.
I guess if you were new to the world of autism and parenting autistic children, and also new to the idea of horse therapy, the film presents a wonderous journey of the heart, with some mystical results. And there are results. I am new to shamanism, and I found the connection with the healers interesting, but somehow the overall narrative arch didn't satisfy me.
I understand where they started. I understand the frustration of the parents, I understand the "have you tried this" mentality, I understand the thrill when something works. In their case, it is when Rowan, the child with autism, quite accidently connects with a horse. On horseback, he becomes happy and calm and starts speaking. I've seen that happen. I can understand them taking a trek to Mongolia to bring horses and healing together, and I appreciate their hopes and apprehension and undying love for their child. But I want to know more than they show me on the surface.
After their travel to Mongolia, complete with its own tribulations, they arrive at the holy grail: the ponies on which they will travel the steppes. Finally lifted onto a Mongilian pony, Rowan starts tantruming. He is inconsolable, and eventually is removed from the horse to travel by van. His father is at a loss, because the child has always been like magic on horseback.
And this is what frustrated me: they only seemed to express their confusion, rather than trying to work out the whys. As a parent of a child with autism, that bothered me. When Shrek's behavior changes, we're always looking at every little thing to figure out why. There isn't always an answer, but sometimes we discover what's upsetting him. Sometimes it's something he can't even put a name to, but if we can fix it, we will. So when Rowan arched and cried and screamed and begged to get off the horse, I wanted to ask, did you introduce him to all the ponies? Did he pick his pony? Did he connect with the one he was to ride? Maybe they went through all of that and Rowan tantrumed anyway, but I would like to have known that, as the name of the film is the Horse Boy and the reason for the journey was to be embraced by the world's oldest horse culture. To see him reject riding was alarming, but to not explore why he might have rejected it seemed a huge oversight. Especially when the dad continued to worry that it would happen again.
This is probably just my perspective, and there really was a lot of wonderment in the film. Maybe, being closely involved with lots of children with different levels of autism, I'm not as wowed by the unexplained or unexplainable. Or maybe I want it explained more. One of Rowan's changes was he stopped being incontinent and started having bowel movements on the toilet, something they'd struggled with for years. It could be the work of the Shamans. It could be the change in diet. It could be that being regular was the only regular thing Rowan could grasp while the rest of his world went through enormous changes in environment, personnel and living conditions. This is what I'd like to discuss, because this is what could be applicable to other children with autism. I don't mean to take away from their story, and I am happy to see they opened a therapeutic riding center to share those goods with others. I just didn't feel the simple "wow" the movie was said to bring. Because with autism, nothing is simple.
Meanwhile, Shrek is scheduled for his first riding lesson tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned.
Last night I watched the feature documentary The Horse Boy on PBS. I had heard about it through both autism and horse groups, so was very interested. The morning after, I am still digesting parts and need probably to rewatch it. I'm not sure why it has left me so jumbled, unable to say either "wow, I really liked it" or "huh, I really didn't."
Actually I am sure, but the reason sounds stupid. It's because it didn't ask or answer the questions I would have asked (and did, out loud). I felt it set viewers up with certain expectations, but didn't follow up with conjecture or explanation when they fell through.
Maybe I feel this way because I have explored treatments and therapies for Shrek and for others and in doing so, ask lots of questions. So perhaps I see the journey too clinically. Or am too focused on the little things.
I guess if you were new to the world of autism and parenting autistic children, and also new to the idea of horse therapy, the film presents a wonderous journey of the heart, with some mystical results. And there are results. I am new to shamanism, and I found the connection with the healers interesting, but somehow the overall narrative arch didn't satisfy me.
I understand where they started. I understand the frustration of the parents, I understand the "have you tried this" mentality, I understand the thrill when something works. In their case, it is when Rowan, the child with autism, quite accidently connects with a horse. On horseback, he becomes happy and calm and starts speaking. I've seen that happen. I can understand them taking a trek to Mongolia to bring horses and healing together, and I appreciate their hopes and apprehension and undying love for their child. But I want to know more than they show me on the surface.
After their travel to Mongolia, complete with its own tribulations, they arrive at the holy grail: the ponies on which they will travel the steppes. Finally lifted onto a Mongilian pony, Rowan starts tantruming. He is inconsolable, and eventually is removed from the horse to travel by van. His father is at a loss, because the child has always been like magic on horseback.
And this is what frustrated me: they only seemed to express their confusion, rather than trying to work out the whys. As a parent of a child with autism, that bothered me. When Shrek's behavior changes, we're always looking at every little thing to figure out why. There isn't always an answer, but sometimes we discover what's upsetting him. Sometimes it's something he can't even put a name to, but if we can fix it, we will. So when Rowan arched and cried and screamed and begged to get off the horse, I wanted to ask, did you introduce him to all the ponies? Did he pick his pony? Did he connect with the one he was to ride? Maybe they went through all of that and Rowan tantrumed anyway, but I would like to have known that, as the name of the film is the Horse Boy and the reason for the journey was to be embraced by the world's oldest horse culture. To see him reject riding was alarming, but to not explore why he might have rejected it seemed a huge oversight. Especially when the dad continued to worry that it would happen again.
This is probably just my perspective, and there really was a lot of wonderment in the film. Maybe, being closely involved with lots of children with different levels of autism, I'm not as wowed by the unexplained or unexplainable. Or maybe I want it explained more. One of Rowan's changes was he stopped being incontinent and started having bowel movements on the toilet, something they'd struggled with for years. It could be the work of the Shamans. It could be the change in diet. It could be that being regular was the only regular thing Rowan could grasp while the rest of his world went through enormous changes in environment, personnel and living conditions. This is what I'd like to discuss, because this is what could be applicable to other children with autism. I don't mean to take away from their story, and I am happy to see they opened a therapeutic riding center to share those goods with others. I just didn't feel the simple "wow" the movie was said to bring. Because with autism, nothing is simple.
Meanwhile, Shrek is scheduled for his first riding lesson tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned.