Interview with Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling

/ Expert Interviews

Text: Anneli Westlund

How do you achieve the magical connection with horses at the first encounter?

-The kind of contact I create with horses, one after the other, is quite unique. Honestly, I don't know anyone else who does it this way and I think you've got it that way. I haven't found anything like it in the world so far and I hope it doesn't come across as arrogant or not humble.

To achieve this I need to know a lot about horses. I must know a lot about communication with horses. I have to know a lot about body signals, about non-verbal communication, etc. The reality behind it is something that I think our society has totally forgotten, and this is something like a real authentic contact, what I always call destiny or destiny tracking. And it simply means, no matter what you call it, that there are much stronger energies existing in the world than those produced by the human race. So what I've tried throughout my life is to submit to these kinds of destiny energies.

These energies which are much stronger than those produced by man himself. And we live in a society where more and more we see bad effects where people put themselves first where they think they know everything, that they can decide everything, they can create destiny, create the world, shape the world and change the world as they want. When we look around, we can see that the world is falling apart. Before I started with horses, I was already about 29 years old and I dedicated my life to ancient transmission. I tried to find out how our ancestors were authentically connected to the world, their belief in fate. With this knowledge, horses have become a necessity for everywhere in our European history, all kinds of peoples, Vikings, Celtics, they have always been connected with horses and their beliefs and destiny.

This extension of my path, the idea of how my ancestors lived their lives… I grew up in the forest and it's a special life to survive there. With all the different energies, I found the path to the horses which has been a spiritual path described as ancient transmission. In reality, this is what I do with the horses - lead them to their destiny. I connect with these horses in a very special way. That's why it's so hard to describe what I do, because it's something that goes beyond normal understanding.

Do you always start with a horse free at the first meeting?

- Yes, always, if I have no other reason. The horse is always loose, always free, even when I pick up a hoof, put on a saddle, etc. It always has a chance to decide for itself to walk away. It doesn't want to leave but it always has that choice. I not only start with a free horse but practically always act with the horse when it is loose. Always rides without reins or with loose reins. So the idea of a free horse is practically the foundation of everything I do.

And then you work the horse into lunging and collect it. How can you do it without reins, tack, etc. just with your body language?

- It is a very important part that you could see. First of all, we must understand that a horse is not born with a saddle and the horse in its normal form practically under the circumstances does not have the ability to carry a rider. So having a horse, putting on a saddle and trying to ride a horse is in this sense a bad treatment of horses. So it is very important to bring the legs of the horse together and to show the horse how to use the hind legs in a proper way, so that the horse finally lifts the front legs and lifts the back.

As you can see in pictures, in my videos and in my books, that the horse carries the weight of the rider with its hind legs. It is only possible for a horse. Only a horse can do something like this and the meaning is by doing so, the horse will mentally rise up enormously.

 

So the horse is essentially gaining mental strength first and foremost, and so it's important that you connect with the horse, because this important style of gathering the horse is only possible if the horse is free. If you don't have the horse free, you only achieve something that looks like collection with reins, spurs, etc. But if the horse is without this constraint, the horse collapses again, so to speak, and you can see that the horse is using the wrong muscles, etc. So this kind of having a collected horse, a real collected horse that is completely free, you can see in so many of my videos. Also, this next step after actually collecting a free horse, connecting with the horse, does not exist in the world.

It's so hard to explain these things because people quickly turn away and express surprise at the least if someone talks in an obviously crazy way, about fate, etc. Those who justify what they are doing is right and valuable. People come to me because they see a result. The result is one thing, but when people seek this path it becomes difficult because maybe they have to confront themselves and it's not always easy. So the results are one thing but connecting with yourself, committing yourself to the path towards those results is a whole other work to do.

What are the most common problems people have with horses today?

-The beginner problem is that they don't know what authentic communication means, as I call it, at the first level, but they don't just have problems with the horses. They have problems with their own lives. Problems with friends, neighbors. They have problems with the children, with their parents. The animals make these problems crystal clear. They are a mirror of the people, the whole idea in the ancient times to be with horses, is to mirror someone with their own problems. If you have problems with the children, with your life, if you are not really happy, feel contempt, if you do not know where you are going, if you are full of fear. If you don't understand your children, if you don't understand yourself, don't understand your partner etc. then it's like being with the horse under a glass and suddenly the problems are much bigger.

So the problems with horses are entirely problems with people. And they never learn well enough to communicate with themselves, with the world, with the environment in an authentic way. Think about the problems people have with themselves, in marriage, with their partner, with parents, with work, with the connection to their own body and often their gray and empty lives. So if they can't solve these problems, how are they going to solve the problems with the horses, which are much bigger?

The horse only reflects the person. I also try to make it clear in my seminars that I am not talking about horses. I'm talking about life! Then the first attitude towards the horse is to announce this. If you don't want to look at yourself, look at life, you will never have the chance to solve the problems with the horses.

How is what you do so different from other methods of horsemanship?

- What I do has nothing to do with any kind of horsemanship existing in the world. It's not just different, it's the complete opposite. It has nothing to do with normal riding. It has nothing to do with dressage. All the horses follow me, go, stop, come, without any idea of dressage. Dressage has to do with sugar on one side and rod and punishment on the other. It has nothing to do with the normal way of being with horses. Nothing! And the horse feels completely different. Home. A big surprise. It is reality. No video trick. Magically!

I'm not pointing fingers. I do my thing. I invite people to come. It is expensive to come because I want people to be determined. Because it changes the point of view, not only towards the horse, but towards the world and their own life. I have spoken out in a book about natural horsemanship and the idea of the horse whisperer, which is to chase the horses, as in dressage to punish the horse physically, but now you punish the horse not only physically but also psychologically and mentally and kill the soul, the expressiveness in the horse and leave just ashes. And this is something I had to talk about because the result is so unbelievably horrible for the horse world, also because the mothers pass it on to the foals and the damage in the horse world will take shape over the next few years and it will take centuries before it is erased again from the race of the horse.

That's why I spoke out because it causes so much pain and has such terrible consequences to produce these kinds of machines where you push a button, and the soul produces only mechanical responses. The result for the horses, for the horse world including the people who do it, made me have to point it out in my book. It is becoming more and more transparent what is really going on with these kinds of predatory games against the horses.

When it comes to riding you talk about the knights… does your style have anything to do with baroque/academic riding or classical riding?

- Horses have the choice to collect themselves, they can collect. They can piaffe e.g. they can trot in place. If you depend on the horses as the knights who fought with the horse, as someone who really traveled with the horse, as in ancient times, then you observe and try to find the best way to keep the horse healthy. And to survive alone together with the horse, have a balance. And then over time you will find out that the way to collect the horse is the best. Except if you are just something like a show jumper and don't need a stock horse and you only want to use the horse for 3-4 years, and then it wears out and has a lot of problems in different body parts.

In relation to this in baroque riding, e.g. have you taken these ideas to collect the horse, but if you distinguish these times when people lived much closer to nature, where people had to live a much more authentic life including communication with themselves and family, life is different from the modern stress , with isolated life, loneliness, all fears and problems. What they did hundreds of years ago was of course different. When they described something like baroque riding in their books, is very difficult to understand in our modern times because we can't understand it anymore. They have lived a different life. The way I collect the horse is similar to that in baroque riding, but the way to it is completely the opposite. Everyone rides the horses and squeezes them between hand and leg. No one can tell me otherwise!

Hempfling.com

Copyright: Anneli Westlund

Text: Anneli Westlund

How do you achieve the magical connection with horses at the first encounter?

-The kind of contact I create with horses, one after the other, is quite unique. Honestly, I don't know anyone else who does it this way and I think you've got it that way. I haven't found anything like it in the world so far and I hope it doesn't come across as arrogant or not humble.

To achieve this I need to know a lot about horses. I must know a lot about communication with horses. I have to know a lot about body signals, about non-verbal communication, etc. The reality behind it is something that I think our society has totally forgotten, and this is something like a real authentic contact, what I always call destiny or destiny tracking. And it simply means, no matter what you call it, that there are much stronger energies existing in the world than those produced by the human race. So what I've tried throughout my life is to submit to these kinds of destiny energies.

These energies which are much stronger than those produced by man himself. And we live in a society where more and more we see bad effects where people put themselves first where they think they know everything, that they can decide everything, they can create destiny, create the world, shape the world and change the world as they want. When we look around, we can see that the world is falling apart. Before I started with horses, I was already about 29 years old and I dedicated my life to ancient transmission. I tried to find out how our ancestors were authentically connected to the world, their belief in fate. With this knowledge, horses have become a necessity for everywhere in our European history, all kinds of peoples, Vikings, Celtics, they have always been connected with horses and their beliefs and destiny.

This extension of my path, the idea of how my ancestors lived their lives… I grew up in the forest and it's a special life to survive there. With all the different energies, I found the path to the horses which has been a spiritual path described as ancient transmission. In reality, this is what I do with the horses - lead them to their destiny. I connect with these horses in a very special way. That's why it's so hard to describe what I do, because it's something that goes beyond normal understanding.

Do you always start with a horse free at the first meeting?

- Yes, always, if I have no other reason. The horse is always loose, always free, even when I pick up a hoof, put on a saddle, etc. It always has a chance to decide for itself to walk away. It doesn't want to leave but it always has that choice. I not only start with a free horse but practically always act with the horse when it is loose. Always rides without reins or with loose reins. So the idea of a free horse is practically the foundation of everything I do.

And then you work the horse into lunging and collect it. How can you do it without reins, tack, etc. just with your body language?

- It is a very important part that you could see. First of all, we must understand that a horse is not born with a saddle and the horse in its normal form practically under the circumstances does not have the ability to carry a rider. So having a horse, putting on a saddle and trying to ride a horse is in this sense a bad treatment of horses. So it is very important to bring the legs of the horse together and to show the horse how to use the hind legs in a proper way, so that the horse finally lifts the front legs and lifts the back.

As you can see in pictures, in my videos and in my books, that the horse carries the weight of the rider with its hind legs. It is only possible for a horse. Only a horse can do something like this and the meaning is by doing so, the horse will mentally rise up enormously.

 

So the horse is essentially gaining mental strength first and foremost, and so it's important that you connect with the horse, because this important style of gathering the horse is only possible if the horse is free. If you don't have the horse free, you only achieve something that looks like collection with reins, spurs, etc. But if the horse is without this constraint, the horse collapses again, so to speak, and you can see that the horse is using the wrong muscles, etc. So this kind of having a collected horse, a real collected horse that is completely free, you can see in so many of my videos. Also, this next step after actually collecting a free horse, connecting with the horse, does not exist in the world.

It's so hard to explain these things because people quickly turn away and express surprise at the least if someone talks in an obviously crazy way, about fate, etc. Those who justify what they are doing is right and valuable. People come to me because they see a result. The result is one thing, but when people seek this path it becomes difficult because maybe they have to confront themselves and it's not always easy. So the results are one thing but connecting with yourself, committing yourself to the path towards those results is a whole other work to do.

What are the most common problems people have with horses today?

-The beginner problem is that they don't know what authentic communication means, as I call it, at the first level, but they don't just have problems with the horses. They have problems with their own lives. Problems with friends, neighbors. They have problems with the children, with their parents. The animals make these problems crystal clear. They are a mirror of the people, the whole idea in the ancient times to be with horses, is to mirror someone with their own problems. If you have problems with the children, with your life, if you are not really happy, feel contempt, if you do not know where you are going, if you are full of fear. If you don't understand your children, if you don't understand yourself, don't understand your partner etc. then it's like being with the horse under a glass and suddenly the problems are much bigger.

So the problems with horses are entirely problems with people. And they never learn well enough to communicate with themselves, with the world, with the environment in an authentic way. Think about the problems people have with themselves, in marriage, with their partner, with parents, with work, with the connection to their own body and often their gray and empty lives. So if they can't solve these problems, how are they going to solve the problems with the horses, which are much bigger?

The horse only reflects the person. I also try to make it clear in my seminars that I am not talking about horses. I'm talking about life! Then the first attitude towards the horse is to announce this. If you don't want to look at yourself, look at life, you will never have the chance to solve the problems with the horses.

How is what you do so different from other methods of horsemanship?

- What I do has nothing to do with any kind of horsemanship existing in the world. It's not just different, it's the complete opposite. It has nothing to do with normal riding. It has nothing to do with dressage. All the horses follow me, go, stop, come, without any idea of dressage. Dressage has to do with sugar on one side and rod and punishment on the other. It has nothing to do with the normal way of being with horses. Nothing! And the horse feels completely different. Home. A big surprise. It is reality. No video trick. Magically!

I'm not pointing fingers. I do my thing. I invite people to come. It is expensive to come because I want people to be determined. Because it changes the point of view, not only towards the horse, but towards the world and their own life. I have spoken out in a book about natural horsemanship and the idea of the horse whisperer, which is to chase the horses, as in dressage to punish the horse physically, but now you punish the horse not only physically but also psychologically and mentally and kill the soul, the expressiveness in the horse and leave just ashes. And this is something I had to talk about because the result is so unbelievably horrible for the horse world, also because the mothers pass it on to the foals and the damage in the horse world will take shape over the next few years and it will take centuries before it is erased again from the race of the horse.

That's why I spoke out because it causes so much pain and has such terrible consequences to produce these kinds of machines where you push a button, and the soul produces only mechanical responses. The result for the horses, for the horse world including the people who do it, made me have to point it out in my book. It is becoming more and more transparent what is really going on with these kinds of predatory games against the horses.

When it comes to riding you talk about the knights… does your style have anything to do with baroque/academic riding or classical riding?

- Horses have the choice to collect themselves, they can collect. They can piaffe e.g. they can trot in place. If you depend on the horses as the knights who fought with the horse, as someone who really traveled with the horse, as in ancient times, then you observe and try to find the best way to keep the horse healthy. And to survive alone together with the horse, have a balance. And then over time you will find out that the way to collect the horse is the best. Except if you are just something like a show jumper and don't need a stock horse and you only want to use the horse for 3-4 years, and then it wears out and has a lot of problems in different body parts.

In relation to this in baroque riding, e.g. have you taken these ideas to collect the horse, but if you distinguish these times when people lived much closer to nature, where people had to live a much more authentic life including communication with themselves and family, life is different from the modern stress , with isolated life, loneliness, all fears and problems. What they did hundreds of years ago was of course different. When they described something like baroque riding in their books, is very difficult to understand in our modern times because we can't understand it anymore. They have lived a different life. The way I collect the horse is similar to that in baroque riding, but the way to it is completely the opposite. Everyone rides the horses and squeezes them between hand and leg. No one can tell me otherwise!

Hempfling.com

Copyright: Anneli Westlund

Text: Anneli Westlund

How do you achieve the magical connection with horses at the first encounter?

-The kind of contact I create with horses, one after the other, is quite unique. Honestly, I don't know anyone else who does it this way and I think you've got it that way. I haven't found anything like it in the world so far and I hope it doesn't come across as arrogant or not humble.

To achieve this I need to know a lot about horses. I must know a lot about communication with horses. I have to know a lot about body signals, about non-verbal communication, etc. The reality behind it is something that I think our society has totally forgotten, and this is something like a real authentic contact, what I always call destiny or destiny tracking. And it simply means, no matter what you call it, that there are much stronger energies existing in the world than those produced by the human race. So what I've tried throughout my life is to submit to these kinds of destiny energies.

These energies which are much stronger than those produced by man himself. And we live in a society where more and more we see bad effects where people put themselves first where they think they know everything, that they can decide everything, they can create destiny, create the world, shape the world and change the world as they want. When we look around, we can see that the world is falling apart. Before I started with horses, I was already about 29 years old and I dedicated my life to ancient transmission. I tried to find out how our ancestors were authentically connected to the world, their belief in fate. With this knowledge, horses have become a necessity for everywhere in our European history, all kinds of peoples, Vikings, Celtics, they have always been connected with horses and their beliefs and destiny.

This extension of my path, the idea of how my ancestors lived their lives… I grew up in the forest and it's a special life to survive there. With all the different energies, I found the path to the horses which has been a spiritual path described as ancient transmission. In reality, this is what I do with the horses - lead them to their destiny. I connect with these horses in a very special way. That's why it's so hard to describe what I do, because it's something that goes beyond normal understanding.

Do you always start with a horse free at the first meeting?

- Yes, always, if I have no other reason. The horse is always loose, always free, even when I pick up a hoof, put on a saddle, etc. It always has a chance to decide for itself to walk away. It doesn't want to leave but it always has that choice. I not only start with a free horse but practically always act with the horse when it is loose. Always rides without reins or with loose reins. So the idea of a free horse is practically the foundation of everything I do.

And then you work the horse into lunging and collect it. How can you do it without reins, tack, etc. just with your body language?

- It is a very important part that you could see. First of all, we must understand that a horse is not born with a saddle and the horse in its normal form practically under the circumstances does not have the ability to carry a rider. So having a horse, putting on a saddle and trying to ride a horse is in this sense a bad treatment of horses. So it is very important to bring the legs of the horse together and to show the horse how to use the hind legs in a proper way, so that the horse finally lifts the front legs and lifts the back.

As you can see in pictures, in my videos and in my books, that the horse carries the weight of the rider with its hind legs. It is only possible for a horse. Only a horse can do something like this and the meaning is by doing so, the horse will mentally rise up enormously.

 

So the horse is essentially gaining mental strength first and foremost, and so it's important that you connect with the horse, because this important style of gathering the horse is only possible if the horse is free. If you don't have the horse free, you only achieve something that looks like collection with reins, spurs, etc. But if the horse is without this constraint, the horse collapses again, so to speak, and you can see that the horse is using the wrong muscles, etc. So this kind of having a collected horse, a real collected horse that is completely free, you can see in so many of my videos. Also, this next step after actually collecting a free horse, connecting with the horse, does not exist in the world.

It's so hard to explain these things because people quickly turn away and express surprise at the least if someone talks in an obviously crazy way, about fate, etc. Those who justify what they are doing is right and valuable. People come to me because they see a result. The result is one thing, but when people seek this path it becomes difficult because maybe they have to confront themselves and it's not always easy. So the results are one thing but connecting with yourself, committing yourself to the path towards those results is a whole other work to do.

What are the most common problems people have with horses today?

-The beginner problem is that they don't know what authentic communication means, as I call it, at the first level, but they don't just have problems with the horses. They have problems with their own lives. Problems with friends, neighbors. They have problems with the children, with their parents. The animals make these problems crystal clear. They are a mirror of the people, the whole idea in the ancient times to be with horses, is to mirror someone with their own problems. If you have problems with the children, with your life, if you are not really happy, feel contempt, if you do not know where you are going, if you are full of fear. If you don't understand your children, if you don't understand yourself, don't understand your partner etc. then it's like being with the horse under a glass and suddenly the problems are much bigger.

So the problems with horses are entirely problems with people. And they never learn well enough to communicate with themselves, with the world, with the environment in an authentic way. Think about the problems people have with themselves, in marriage, with their partner, with parents, with work, with the connection to their own body and often their gray and empty lives. So if they can't solve these problems, how are they going to solve the problems with the horses, which are much bigger?

The horse only reflects the person. I also try to make it clear in my seminars that I am not talking about horses. I'm talking about life! Then the first attitude towards the horse is to announce this. If you don't want to look at yourself, look at life, you will never have the chance to solve the problems with the horses.

How is what you do so different from other methods of horsemanship?

- What I do has nothing to do with any kind of horsemanship existing in the world. It's not just different, it's the complete opposite. It has nothing to do with normal riding. It has nothing to do with dressage. All the horses follow me, go, stop, come, without any idea of dressage. Dressage has to do with sugar on one side and rod and punishment on the other. It has nothing to do with the normal way of being with horses. Nothing! And the horse feels completely different. Home. A big surprise. It is reality. No video trick. Magically!

I'm not pointing fingers. I do my thing. I invite people to come. It is expensive to come because I want people to be determined. Because it changes the point of view, not only towards the horse, but towards the world and their own life. I have spoken out in a book about natural horsemanship and the idea of the horse whisperer, which is to chase the horses, as in dressage to punish the horse physically, but now you punish the horse not only physically but also psychologically and mentally and kill the soul, the expressiveness in the horse and leave just ashes. And this is something I had to talk about because the result is so unbelievably horrible for the horse world, also because the mothers pass it on to the foals and the damage in the horse world will take shape over the next few years and it will take centuries before it is erased again from the race of the horse.

That's why I spoke out because it causes so much pain and has such terrible consequences to produce these kinds of machines where you push a button, and the soul produces only mechanical responses. The result for the horses, for the horse world including the people who do it, made me have to point it out in my book. It is becoming more and more transparent what is really going on with these kinds of predatory games against the horses.

When it comes to riding you talk about the knights… does your style have anything to do with baroque/academic riding or classical riding?

- Horses have the choice to collect themselves, they can collect. They can piaffe e.g. they can trot in place. If you depend on the horses as the knights who fought with the horse, as someone who really traveled with the horse, as in ancient times, then you observe and try to find the best way to keep the horse healthy. And to survive alone together with the horse, have a balance. And then over time you will find out that the way to collect the horse is the best. Except if you are just something like a show jumper and don't need a stock horse and you only want to use the horse for 3-4 years, and then it wears out and has a lot of problems in different body parts.

In relation to this in baroque riding, e.g. have you taken these ideas to collect the horse, but if you distinguish these times when people lived much closer to nature, where people had to live a much more authentic life including communication with themselves and family, life is different from the modern stress , with isolated life, loneliness, all fears and problems. What they did hundreds of years ago was of course different. When they described something like baroque riding in their books, is very difficult to understand in our modern times because we can't understand it anymore. They have lived a different life. The way I collect the horse is similar to that in baroque riding, but the way to it is completely the opposite. Everyone rides the horses and squeezes them between hand and leg. No one can tell me otherwise!

Hempfling.com

Copyright: Anneli Westlund