For a horse to offer back free choice, when you think about how much he relies on his own choices, decisions and instincts for survival, that is a special thing to be offered. But when he offers back choice to you, whether it be his choice to choose you over another horse or he chooses your idea or activity over his own, he is giving you something of such importance to himself, simply because you gave him that same form of free choice to begin with.
Allowance, it’s a powerful thing. Easily misused, and easily misunderstood, but most amazing if allowance is simply aloud to be. So allow him to be with you, offer something wonderful for that choice, but most of all offer him that choice. Follow him and he will follow you, provide him with what he needs and he will provide you with the same. When you become an equal partner or companion, you do things equally, but take the lead when the other is unsure and offer guidance and reassurance in that situation. So we cannot force him to choose us and stay, we can only allow him to by giving him positive reasons to do so.