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It's a windswept, freezing January afternoon on a remote beach in Scotland, and I'm watching four horses, each with a child on its back, plodding across the pebbles. Eight-year-old Rowan Isaacson is standing beside me on the beach. Like the other children, he is autistic: unlike them, he can carry on a conversation, speaks clearly and is toilet-trained – but only since 2007. ­According to Rowan's father, Rupert, his extraordinary "recovery" from some of the most difficult aspects of autism came about through his love of horses – a love ­affair that culminated in a month-long, ­adventure-packed trip to Mongolia.