In the sixth chap­ter of “Black Beau­ty” titled “Lib­er­ty,” the nar­ra­tive unfolds from the per­spec­tive of Black Beau­ty, who reflects on his con­tent­ment and liv­ing con­di­tions in his new home. Despite the com­fort, good food, and car­ing han­dlers he has, Black Beau­ty yearns for free­dom, rem­i­nisc­ing about the days when he could roam freely in the fields, express­ing his ener­gy and spir­it with­out restraint. This con­trast between his past lib­er­ty and cur­rent con­fined life, where his move­ments are restrict­ed by straps and blink­ers, empha­sizes his desire for the open spaces and auton­o­my he once enjoyed.

Black Beau­ty acknowl­edges the neces­si­ty of his sit­u­a­tion, rec­og­niz­ing that as a young and spir­it­ed horse, the expec­ta­tions are for him to be steady and reli­able, akin to old­er, more expe­ri­enced hors­es. Regard­less, he finds this adjust­ment chal­leng­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly when his desire to move freely is cur­tailed. His rest­less­ness is espe­cial­ly pro­nounced when he has not been exer­cised suf­fi­cient­ly, lead­ing to bursts of ener­gy that test the patience of his care­tak­er, John.

John, under­stand­ing and con­sid­er­ate, knows how to man­age Black Beau­ty’s spir­it­ed nature with­out resort­ing to harsh­ness. He rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of exer­cise in alle­vi­at­ing Black Beau­ty’s rest­less­ness, often allow­ing him to trot freely out­side the vil­lage to “get the tick­le out of [his] feet.” Through gen­tle guid­ance and a deep under­stand­ing of Black Beau­ty’s needs, John is pre­sent­ed as a mod­el of empa­thy and patience, demon­strat­ing an intu­itive grasp of how to care for spir­it­ed hors­es with­out sti­fling their inher­ent nature.

The chap­ter not only high­lights the bond between horse and human but also sub­tly cri­tiques the prac­tice of con­fin­ing ani­mals with­out con­sid­er­ing their nat­ur­al incli­na­tions and needs. Black Beau­ty’s reflec­tions offer insights into the inner world of a horse, por­tray­ing a long­ing for free­dom that is uni­ver­sal among sen­tient beings.