Dude, If you’re a client of this guy… and you say that you’ve TRIED to work with horses for years, but have failed and so aren’t working with them now, and he’s your trainer…
Why in the world would you come on here and praise him? He has completely failed you as a trainer…
@Benv, you seem to be trying to claim that Hempfling’s methods do not involve pressure/release, but they actually do. Horses are amazingly sensitive animals - even eye contact is pressure. A simple step toward - or even leaning in the direction - of one part of the horses’ body is pressure/release. Hempfling may not even know this himself if he’s telling his acolytes otherwise, but he absolutely uses pressure and release. I actually have watched some of his videos and his application of pressure and release are usually subtle but it is, as it must be for all decent handlers, the basis of his style. And he uses it to train horses through repetition.
It seems like your main perception of the apparent difference in training styles from other liberty stuff is that he focuses on “collection?” But sustained collection (including his version) isn’t healthy long term. Plus, he uses primarily horses who are built for the type of movement he prefers, and many breeds aren’t built for that. And possibly most importantly, while it’s pretty, it generally doesn’t have much practical use - and most people have horses for more practical purposes.
I actually think he has good timing and I do think he’s skilled. But nothing he does is revolutionary, except to those who don’t understand how horses communicate and learn. It’s a shame that he doesn’t do a better job of teaching his students, IMO. I do think he could help novice horse people if he explained clearly what he is doing from a technical standpoint when he works with horses (assuming he even understands, himself.)
He may not understand or be aware of it.
When I was about 15 years into my journey with horses, it became apparent to me that I could catch horses that others found difficult to catch, and ride horses that others found difficult to ride.
I’m no master, I promise. I don’t even pretend to be one on tv.
What I’m naturally very good at is body language and reading equine signals, which as those of us are experienced know, are very subtle.
I underestimated (at the time) how much body language I was using with my horses. So I was clueless as to why horses that were difficult for others were easy for me.
What tuned me in finally was trying to help someone else longe and realizing they had their body and energy all wrong. So I had to figure out how to help them get it. Then I encountered more people who could only longe the well trained horses, and realized they didn’t know how to stay balanced in the drive line or how to block movement etc.
I do think that part of what Hempfling says (without the melodrama) is somewhat correct. If you are not aware of what your physicality is presenting to the horse you will have more difficulty than someone who is aware.
But a good coach can help one understand that.
I do think in part this is something that often separates the naturally talented from the not naturally talented, but again, it can be taught. I focus on it in my lessons but not to the exclusion of correct techniques. And I certainly don’t mystify it, I just speak to the fact that I’m using a language that horses come wired with. shrug
Is it hard to hear that others consider the king we admire really has no clothes and why.
Takes time to admit to yourself maybe we didn’t have enough to go by to judge and painful to hear from others pointing to that fact.
Then, different strokes … not everyone wants out of their life experiences the same and what that fellow sells obviously fits his customers.
My very favorite trainer does not allow anyone to video her work, much less post that video on social media. She’s seen too many trainers get burned.
Another angle on Hempling’s work, from one of yours - a natural horseman that chose to evaluate one his videos and it was chosen because it is successful. It’s a perspective from the point of view of Natural Horsemanship that is in accordance with your experience and opinion, as far as I understand. What do you think about this?
I thought some posts back you were insisting he didn’t work off putting and taking away pressure in his training and now you present videos of someone saying he is doing just that?
By the way, 60 years ago in our riding center we were being taught just that and we then taught the apprentices how to move to affect a horse’s movement itself.
That has been a recognized and applied part of traditional horse handling for centuries, nothing new to impress beginners as it seems to be represented in those videos.
Someone suggested you look at the videos of the Road To The Horse competitions, where three trainers work with practically feral colts from the 6666 ranch.
They are started and being handled and ridden in three days, questionable as that time frame is to some.
There you can see a more refined handling of horses, horses that have not been handled before.
That may expand your horizons when you see what all can be a next step to what this fellow is trying to do in the videos you presented.
With horses, that is something many of us love about them, there is always more to learn, someone better to learn from, more to explore along with them, wonderful creatures horses are.
Each one of us finds their own way and for some, it seems this one fellow presented here is currently that one.
This.
@Benv, I don’t understand why you are presenting this video series. This commentator is saying that Hempfling is using pressure and release on the horse, using those specific terms. He is saying the same things most of us have been saying throughout this thread (though with different personal opinions and politics thrown in).
The critiqued video appears to have been a successful session by Hempfling. Do you think Hempfling wasn’t successful? Or did you post these because you disagree with the commentator’s evaluations of Hempflings’ actions and the horse’s responses? If you agree with the commentator, how do you think this proves your point (that Hempfling’s methods are completely unique and revolutionary)?
I think you are just click-baiting for views.
That’s what I think.
“It is I, Dexter!”
Oh, Rick Gore (the chap doing the commentating on the above videos). He too was once oft-discussed on internet message boards. Mainly for sounding like a jerk and his flagrant misogyny. I dimly recall that he looked okay as a trainer, though I don’t remember much of his horse training since his politics always stirred up more debate. There are plenty of skilled trainers out there who don’t slag off the entire female horse-owning population, so I just follow them.
I didn’t watch every minute of all three videos. However, while skipping through it, I thought Rick’s evaluation/analysis of what Klaus was doing was actually pretty good if you ignore the chauvinist crap.
You are all saying that there is nothing special in the videos of Hempfling working with horses - including the first meetings - something than no one else is showing. You show dressaged horses in all the examples you are sharing - this is comparing apples to eggs.
I don’t see anyone taking a horse, with known problems, a dangerous horse and going to it KNOWING that it will be a success in front of audience and camera. I have shared three examples of these first encounters here and here is another one:
Can you show me the same situation that is handled on this level? There is nothing comparable to what Hempfling is doing and no one would dare or is able to do anyhing like this - for sure not without putting the horse in a round pen and chasing it for at least half an hour. Probably one similar situation where a horse trainer tried to take a horse he meets for the first time and work with it in front of an audience and cameras is Parelli’s catwalk - I only bring it here to explain the situation I am talking about.
The only thing I see is a heavily produced overly dramatic short clip of a lovely stallion in need of a diet before he ends up on someone’s dinner plate.
Unmanageable ? How? Because the video says so. The manufactured rearing somehow made this plump fellow a willing golden retriever following obediently. Okay let’s say we swallow that. Now what ? Since there is no repetition or training. It’s just some Woo Woo majickal connection. So when the Maestro leaves does the stallion go back to gobbling stable hands and being unmanageable? What was achieved besides some weird ego stroke? This whole premise reminds me of astrology or horoscopes. People looking to find meaning in specious vapor statements that achieve nothing and supposedly mean everything if you just believe.
DRAMATIC MUSIC!
REARING!
MORE REARING!
LOUDER DRAMATIC MUSIC!
EVEN MORE REARING!
If that had been a rogue stallion we would have seen teeth from the get go.
Off topic but if anyone needs a gift for a horsey friend, Prancercise™ has a book, a DVD, and tee shirts for sale.
I think the most charitable way of looking at it is that the OP just isn’t a good fit for this board. I moved myself over here a while back because I can take snarky replies and people getting into a huff about nothing a lot better than the over-administrated nanny boards where most of the posts are by young people who know little and whose questions are extremely repetitive. Once I started getting rude (yes, your horse is too fat, yes, you have created a monster you can’t control and can’t fix yourself, and if you don’t see the point of using punctuation and paragraphs I am going to block you) I knew my time there was over. The tone of this board can be harsh but I prefer ‘bracing’.
Do you really are saying all that with a straight face?
"Can you have a the same situation that is handled on this level? There is nothing comparable and no one who would dare to do it … "
That is a nonsense, ridiculous assertion.
There have been traveling horse whisperers for centuries.
They would go from town to town, promoting themselves as they were going to be “taming wild horses no one else could tame”, putting on shows about it, is the predecessor of today’s “natural horsemanship” clinicians of the past half century.
I can’t imagine why you keep bringing such stuff here and insist this is some kind of out of this world, never seen before magic, an assertion so easy to debunk? 
If you watch thoroughbred stallion handlers as they walk stallions to the breeding shed, you can see moment that look like this if you choose to frame what is happening in a magical way. Stallions can be excited when walking to the breeding shed. They may rear at times and then go back to walking like decent citizens.
You keep saying we don’t understand. We do - we just also know that nothing you are showing us is novel, mind-blowing, or anything other than what the standard of professional horse handling is 
At first in the still as I was scrolling I thought it was a cow. Turns out I’m not quite awake yet!
EgggZACTly!! Big turn-off.
yeah, me too.
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