Hempflings: Prince, Gypsy and a Skeptic

In Klaus Hempflings’ book, What Horses Reveal, he details his 26 character types that he gives horses. He evaulates mostly using the placement of the eyes, the shape and texture of the nostrils, the line of the front profile, the angle of the neck into the shoulders, the back, the hindquarters and the overall conformation of the horse.

From that visual assessment, he designs a training program and how he would approach the horse the first time: boldly and with close in contact, or distance contact giving time to the horse etc…

The first portion of this book is a bit too much cautionary tale, regurgitation of his work with horses given in Dancing with Horses. My preference would have been having this section (71 pages) with each horse photo clearly labeled as to the CHARACTER TYPE he discusses later (pp  72-127).

For example, what character types are Campeon 13, the Breton stallion,  the Arab Case #3, Janosch, and Junque? 30 pages are written in the first section about these horses but no details as to character type given at that time.

This is a big problem with Hemplfing’s books: I think he has fantastic ideas but has an extremely poor editor and layout designer. With creative thinkers you often find they are hard to express their ideas into explanatory text. My artist brother was impossible to deal with in writing a business plan.

The narrative sometimes becomes so esoteric that you have to really keep an open mind… considering that most horse people are not open minded that is a problem for book sales. I noticed that in the U.S. this book is no longer available for instance.

Hempflings’ prose often wanders about; I find myself scratching my head wondering what the point is but know that there IS a point – I just can’t find it! The photo sequences are usually too small and in Dancing, it took me several re-reads to figure out the correct sequence since they are not done top, left to right, second row, left to right etc…

It has made me hesitate in buying his third book, The Horse Seeks Me, because of the poor translation of ideas to method. This has been commented upon in articles of those who have met Hempfling and who have attended his clinics. Having written all that, I still like Hempfling (a lot) because of his non-aggressive approach to working with horses.

Of course we wish all our horses were Kings, Ministers, Unicorns or a Pegasus, but I’ve figured for some time I was dealing with lesser mortals.ROFL! Having an average horse who has average intelligence will be a big pill for people to swallow and is another reason people and their egos will have a hard time with Hempfling! For instance, on the video comments everyone seems to have the King, the Minister, a Unicorn or a Pegasus! LOL!

The center section which gives the types, only donates 1-2 pages in analyizing 1-2 photos. It would have helped if notations had been Photoshopped onto photos with arrows and points of interest, highlighting the anatomical features Hempfling was discussing in the text. Each type should have had at least four if not six photos of differing horses to further clarify.

It was not until I read his website did I see that horses could be a combination. Since this was the actual thrust of the book, I would have preferred that half of the book’s content dealt with typing the character.

I’ve come to the conclusion that following Hempfling really means facing yourself honestly and also listening to your intuition. You can never be afraid to face the bald truth because the horse will suss those lies and self delusion right out. His books are thought provoking but slow reads which evolve into deeper meanings the longer you work with your horse.

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When it comes to Z, I’ve wondered where she would fall. I think she will be a combination horse like BBoy was, but looking through and reading again and again, I think she has a healthy dose of the Skeptic (p 80) in her. I’m not picking that even though Hempfling chose the most butt-ugly Appaloosa to be the main poster horse for the Skeptic and Z is an Appaloosa.

I know because of Z’s temperment she was not going to be one of his easy, lovey-dovey types. The Skeptic: a horse who can quickly become ill natured if handled improperly, a strong character, wilful, not a beginners or childs horse, one that can become dangerous, must be shown the path by watching other horses, is in disbelief that it can be done, and one that will resort quickly to violence and without much warning.

Z is much smarter then your average Skeptic and also has more physical ability so I know she is not 100 percent Skeptic. Even so, I might be wrong about that evaluation because I find the character stuff to be very confusing. I just wish Hempfling would post a lot more evaluations and further explain it. He did post a combination of the Child and the King; and a combination of the Sergeant and the Minister you can read online.

I’m curious enough about this that I am seriously thinking of buying a Horse Profile phone conversation as my August birthday gift to myself. This is because I have my own thoughts on how I want to bring Z’s training along, and I would like an outside opinion that is not emotionally attached to it (such as a friend would be) as to how to continue to proceed with her.

peace of mind

This is the first weekend w/o hubby as he has managed to come home every weekend until now,  a month after starting his new job. Instead, he is off doing a meditation retreat at Molly’s new place of 40 acres with a river and stream – as well as horse feeding duties while Molly and her husband are out of town.

Meanwhile, I got over to the feed store and picked up feed for Big Guy. The mystery over how his current feed bill in no way matches the amount I was buying before – when he was being fed the same amount that he is being fed now continues. Of course I understand why he looks like a pregnant mare now – he’s not working and he has plenty of grass but…. that doesn’t explain the feed purchase record.

So I guess, as much as I am actually shocked to believe this, (I guess I remain naive and trusting about human nature despite all the shanks in my back), the barn owner at FR must have been using MY feed for other purposes. It could not have been a boarder, because my feed was kept in the well house with only one other boarders feed – and that boarder showed up about once every 2-3 months.

I’m fighting fact against what I believe about human nature, as I would never have thought – and still find it hard to do so, that the FR BO was using MY feed either to feed her own horses (located right across the driveway from the wellhouse) or perhaps the never-there boarders horses. Perhaps the kindest thing I can say is that they were feeding my horse more then what I thought…?

Upshot is that Big Guy is thriving. I had a chance to talk to Joe about him this afternoon when I delivered three bags of feed only to find that my barrel was still half full…

Joe told me that Big Guy is so easy to get along with – that he had to slap a huge fly off of him with a bucket and BG just turned around and shrugged his figurative shoulders. He told me that their own warmblood would have freaked out – but I told him that BG knows when you are slapping off flies and when you are slapping for punishment. Killing horse flies is appreciated. Punishment not so much.

It is no joke that the peace of mind I can have over BG’s location – which is not too far away, and taking care of him in the manner I would expect (such as separately feeding him) – as well as the new home for Pandora where she will be looked after by someone that is experienced – and both of them ARE AFFORDABLE… has lifted a HUGE burden off my shoulders.

Now I just wish I could find the same for Z and I would be able to sleep better at night.

Sequencing the training

Klaus Hempflings’ second book What Horses’ Reveal, has been a complex tome to digest. It’s been 6 years since it’s U.S. release and I’m still digesting…

Most of the book describes the “personality types” that he gives to horses however, what I wanted to address in this post is the chapter: How to Shape Horses’ Correctly (p. 165).  Hempflings’ premise is that the work should be approached in a series of sequences based upon it’s personality.

My half-Arabian, Beautiful Boy, was a  personality combination of the Prince (p. 114) and the Gypsy (p. 106), making him difficult to engage (too much emotional pressure and he became frightened); difficult to communicate and bond with; and his instinctual panic set us back many lessons.

I started having better success when I started sequencing our workouts.

For example, a typical session might begin with liberty work in a small arena – where he could roll at will, trot about, and I would wait until he came to me to engage in “conversation.”

Liberty and letting HIM engage me, helped him develop a trust that he could make decisions in our relationship at his own pace - ignoring humans was part of his personalities, and I had a historical account from his previous owner of 13 years that backed up his “aloof” character.

After Liberty we did some in-hand work, usually leaving this outdoor arena and working in another area. In-hand work was using clicker training and body movements (imitate me) as well as a whip to aid direction through pointing, parallel guiding and light touch.

BBoy was beautiful at in-hand work and I wish I had some video of this as I was amazed at how easily he did all sorts of movements with effortless grace.

Sequencing has come back into play with LadyZ.

If I followed the route of a traditional training, our sessions would start with lunging or roundpen work, followed by riding and then she would be put away. However, I don’t find this the best use of my time working her or in how she learns.

Let’s look at a typical sequence I might do with her:

1.) Get her and BigT from their pastures and let them graze in the commons. During this time, I assemble my tack, equipment, etc… and would probably free-groom the horses, flyspray them and watch their behavior. How are they feeling today? Is she energetic or feeling laid back? Is she curious about me or ignoring me?

2.) In the Roundpen we start off with some Liberty warmup of walk and trot voice commands. How is she responding? Usually this type of work energizes her and she starts to engage more with me.

I layer the high energy work of walk-trot-canter with slower work where she comes up to the mounting block (lead by a carrot!) and then stands. I’m starting to find that she is more calm at the mounting block AFTER a bout of high energy work then she would be if I had immediately demanded standing still at the mounting block.

3.) After this work, I let her back to the commons to graze, while I groom or work BigT.

4.) After his work, I return to LadyZ and I get her tacked up and lunge her walk and trot in the large arena.

A change in this plan, might be a hiking companion walk in the beginning to engage her and work off any boisterous energy with traveling through a new environment.

Slower and laid back horses might need wake up work, energizing in the beginning.

Horses that are disenagaged from people involvement, may need something like clicker training, liberty work or chasing a ball to connect them to the human handler.

Horses that are high energy may need a burn off exercise but then moved to something that requires a lot of concentration and focus (moving through poles, over a trail bridge etc…).

It’s interesting to think of not only sequencing but layering the work that I want the horse to learn in a manner that keeps them interested, engaged and eager to do it all over again.

What I feel is the highest compliments that the horses give me: they meet me at the gate; they follow me, even tackless and in an open area; after working with me, they come back and ask for more… being that I have no horses for sale, don’t do training for others, and no longer teach riding lessons, I have the time to devote to giving them training in this manner.

I am very thankful for it.

Happy Endings

KD did pick up Beautiful Boy today! Yeah! 

Hubby took care of it all for me, partly because KD drives me up the wall and the other part is that I didn’t want a long sappy goodbye. I said my goodbye the day before and really didn’t feel sad about it. KD will love on him and give him a home where he doesn’t have to think or work. 

Hubby told me she was jumping (literally) for joy, hugged him, had three photos taken of him and her before they had left the paddock alley, and was basically filled with joy. This was her first horse bought for her when she was nine years of age. I knew she didn’t want to sell him when she did.

So all in all it’s a happy story – she got her first horse back for free, and I got out of the trap of having to figure out what to do with him.

Background: I bought Beautiful Boy for $600 when his owner was in a financial bind. He never worked out as a lesson horse due to his unexpected spooks. I owned him for several years before I ”sold” him back to her for $1.

No-show

Just like I thought, KD – Beautiful Boy’s’ former owner, soon-to-be-again owner, screwed us all and was a no-show at the last minute. She has been strongly warned that if she does not show tomorrow at 10 a.m. it’s over for her reunion.

God, this girl drives me crazy… just like her horse did!