"I'm highly dyslexic and find reading and writing difficult. So I went through my school years being told I'm stupid. And the first creature that didn't call me stupid was a horse." - Richard Maxwell, horse trainer, author of many books including Train Your Young Horse and Maximize Your Horsemanship


Richard Maxwell began to ride at age 9 and sought to join the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery when he joined the army at the age of 17. After several detours that included tanks instead of horses, he became a military riding instructor and joined the Household Cavalry.

We know many children and adults with dyslexia who seem especially gifted working with animals. We recently found this discussion Correlation Between Dyslexia and Talent with Animals: 

Excerpt: "What an interesting subject. I asked my daughter (assistant instructor for therapeutic riding) to comment...'Yes definitely. I have noticed quite consistently that people with sensory processing disorders such as dyslexia often have an affinity with animals. I think it is partly because those people are often visual tinkers, which means they really can 'think like a horse' more easily than someone who is a strongly verbal thinker, and partly because they often seem to be more sensitive to sensory stimuli, and therefore notice the kinds of things that animals notice, such as background noise or visual distractions. I think also, though perhaps this is not so universal, those people might pay more attention to body language, as their verbal / auditory processing might not work quite the same way as other people's"

For more on Richard Maxwell: http://www.horsehero.com/35757  or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGaujMUoP_Q