liberty?

i don't want to hurry with pableu. i don't want to put a halter on him yet. he managed to get the too tight neck tag with his blm number on it at the corrals off so what is that telling me? i like the idea of him never needing one but for a short time, then on to a cordeo around the bottom of his neck instead. i don't want him to fear or run from me. i don't want to teach him tricks or make him do things that humiliate him or make fun of him. i don't ever want to think that i know what's good for him more than he does and impose my selfish, human ideas on him. i don't want to be "the boss" or the lead mare or dominant over him in any way. why? because i am not a horse!!! and horses know that we are not. to try to pretend like we are or even mimick herd behavior is ridiculous to me because they know the difference and to behave otherwise will only confuse and upset them. will i ride him someday? maybe, maybe not. he will decide if that's something he wants to do and let me know and whatever he decides will be ok with me and...i hope with all my heart i learn from him and apply what i learn to my other horses. i have made mistakes with them and it saddens me to think about the damage some of those mistakes has caused. pableu's not my slave or here to serve or work for me any more than my husband is. he too is my partner, my friend, my equal. i feel like people are using the term "at liberty" with horses the way they use "natural" horsemanship. there's nothing natural about it all. it's still humans asking horses to do stuff they usually don't want to do or are not comfortable doing and the horse does them just to 1) make the human happy or 2) make them shut up. and liberty? i understand what people try to mean when they use that word but in reality, that big ass ugly helicopter that chased and scared the shit out of pableu and his band during the round up in august and ken salazar took that away.