Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling

Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling (born 1957) is a specialist in communication and human movement best known for his unorthodox approach to training and working with horses. Hempfling first rose to prominence when he released the book Dancing with Horses in the early 1990s. In it he advocated horsemanship based on precise communication with the horse through body language rather than through more coercive methods.

He currently lives and operates in Denmark.

Early life

Hempfling was born in Westphalia in Germany in 1957. He has stated that he spent much of his childhood living alone "in the woods", apparently estranged from his family.

As a young adult, Hempfling completed studies in telecommunications technology in 1978. He then spent time variously as a teacher, freelance artist and theatrical director.

At age 26 Hempfling became a lecturer at the School of Art and Design in Dortmund. While at this stage he had not yet had any direct contact with horses, Hempfling became captivated by the prominent role of the horse in mythology. At age 29 he decided to seek out contact with real horses. He returned to Spain to observe feral horses in the Pyrenees Mountains and to study, if not employ, traditional training methods. His effectiveness as a horseman was noted by others and he soon began giving his own clinics and lessons. Within two years of his first contact with horses, Hempfling wrote Mit Pferden tanzen ("Dancing with Horses"), which described his approach to horse training and communication. Written in his native German, Dancing with Horses has been translated into several languages, including English, and became an international bestseller. particularly negative reinforcement or "pressure/release" methods. While acknowledging their apparent effectiveness, He has distanced himself from the term "horse whisperer" which he associates with these techniques.

Instead, Hempfling promotes the use of specific body language to establish a relationship between horse and human in which the horse recognises the human handler as the higher-ranking, dominant partner, but in which there is still trust in the handler. Hempfling claims that the handler can establish this relationship of dominance and trust through the use of subtle but powerful body signals and without the need for significant psychological or physical pressure on the horse. Hempfling developed these signals through his observations of high-ranking animals in feral horse populations.

Film documentaries Dancing with Horses (2000) Coming Together (2005) Horse Land (2016)