I get this about riding too, and it's like "Have you met a horse?" While, yes, it's possible to beat a horse into submission (and sadly entirely too common in some quarters), that's not how you get a partner.

Of the great trail mounts I have ridden, one was bred for endurance and happened to love it. But the other two?

One was a champion roper who decided one day she wanted to retire from showing.

The other was a mule who only did saddle work because he had made it very clear he wasn't a pack mule. My theory is that he knew he could get his very own guest for the trip by refusing to do pack...because he was one of the most affectionate and people-oriented equines I've ever known. He wanted his Own Person.

I know horses who hate jumping and horses who hate doing anything but jumping. A horseman takes this into account.

Another thing I have heard about and once personally witnessed...people, even many horse people, become convinced that bronc riding is cruel. Ha! The vast majority of stock contractors treat those horses very well indeed, many continue to work at ages where most horses are chilling in the pasture. And what I saw was one decide it was done with being a bronc right in the middle of the rodeo. It demonstrated this by trotting around the arena nice as you please, PROVING that the bucking strap doesn't force them to buck (it tells them it's time to buck, different thing). I assume he was back in the rodeo next year...as a saddle horse. He'd just gotten tired of his job and was telling us he wanted another one.

They DO consent, in their own way, as long as the humans around are willing to listen.