In our society we have people who are introverts.  Contrary to what people think, an introvert is not a person who is shy.  In fact introversion has nothing to do with shyness.  An introvert is a person who is energized by being alone.  I am one of such a person.  I love my own company as it gives me an opportunity to escape into the world of fantasy.  One time a friend invited me to a get-together lunch.  In the gathering, I met women who were more talkative and joyous than me.  They were talking, laughing loudly and cracking what appeared to me as 'nonsense' jokes.  I left the place completely drained and irritated.  My friend who is more outgoing, seemed to have enjoyed every moment of the get-together, and could not understand why I did not feel the same.  "You have to learn to live with other people," she told me plainly.  But I could not learn even when I tried.  Apparently, I am not shy.  Given the chance, I have stood in crowds and delivered short speeches.  I have been a dramatist in school.  I have stood in a crowd to mimic a piece of work written by someone. There are times I have been tempted to compare myself with my peers who are extroverts and richer than I.  I felt that may be they are richer because they are extroverts and more aggressive about getting what they want done.  However, the little research I have done on introverts shows that even introverts have potential to get rich.  I only need to discover who I am, and what I am able to do, and explore it.

Introverts prefer to talk less and listen more.  They innovate but dislike self-promotion.  In whatever they do they are not after publicity or praise.  They prefer to work on their own rather than in teams.  In a book entitled 'QUIET' by Susan Cain, she argues that introverts are undervalued which is tragic.  She has introduced us introverts who have been great leaders that have contributed a lot to the society.

If you are one of those who have looked down upon introverts, you may need to change your perspective.

Sorry I have been quiet lately.  I lost a loved one so I have not quite done some of my works.  Today we are going to explore the last type of horse breed.  The Work Horse consists of 2% of  the population of all the horses on earth.  They are exceptional horses and that is why you will not see them everywhere.  They are nicknamed "hot blooded" because they are tough, ready to go and they never say "die."  This kind of breed are the hardest to train.  It takes between 6 to 12 years to train them.

The War Horse is built for endurance.  These are the types of horses used in the olden days by Roman gladiators.  They used them to go to war.  In the present day, they are used by the Cow Boys in films.  At the same time, these are the horses used to play polo.  Sometimes, the man playing polo would miss the ball and hit the leg of the horse, but the horse will keep on going because of the endurance that is inbuilt in him.  Emotionally, the war horse is very strong under stressful conditions, so no matter the stress, the hunger, the thirsty he will still match on.  During war, if the rider is shot, the War Horse would not run away and leave his master lying on the ground.  A well trained War Horse would retrieve his wounded master and pull them safely home.

Our lives can very well be compared to that of a War Horse.  We have characters that match the War Horse.  These are the people who are well trained and endure even when they encounter odd situations.  A  man who has the characteristics of a War Horse would not run away from the company where he is employed because there is a crisis.  Therefore, talk of loyalty then you are talking about a War Horse type of character.  Men of valor,unshaken and go for what they believe in.  Such characters are emotionally tough such that they are  not shaken by criticism or slander.  They are not doing things for show or pleasure like we saw the characteristics of Pleasure and Show Horses.  

Today let us explore the characteristics of  Race Horses.  These are the horses you see at the race tracts.  They are mounted and at the sound of a gun shot, they come out of their cages and dash out.  They don't stop until they finish the race.  The race horses perform the best when they are running at a maximum of two miles a day.  When the race exceeds two miles a day, they begin to struggle.  If the race horses run one and a half miles then you can expect the best from them.

Although the race horses may have the gift of speed, they must undergo training.  A race horse may look physically big but if he is under three years, he is not supposed to race because he can break his bones.  The trainer of the race horse always instill guts and confidence in him.  The race horse must believe in himself and that he better than the others.  The heartbeat of a race horse is to win! win! and Win!  You will be surprised that when the horse races are on the track they do not cross lanes.  On the other hand, they run focusing forward.  Even if others fall down, they are trained not to pay attention to those who are fallen but continue moving forward.

When we translate the characteristics of a race horse to real life, we find that no matter the desire for our calling we need to be equipped with skills that comes with training.  Without such training we may find that we are struggling in our endeavors and as a result we shall not perform at our best.  Just like the race horse is trained not to pay attention to those who are running on the other tracks, we certainly need to do the same.  Sometimes people have failed to achieve their dreams because all they allow themselves to be distracted.  However, when you remain focused on your calling, nothing will be able to distract you.  Learn to believe in yourself and pursue your dreams with confidence.  Do not mind what others will think of you because everyone is entitled to opinion.  If you want to start business, learn from those who have done the same and in addition get books that relate to that particular line of business.

MYSTERY OF HORSES

We are still exploring the characteristics of horses and how that relates to men.  Today we are going to talk about another type of breed.  This is the Work Horse.

The Work Horse as their name implies are trained to work.  The owners use them for work only.  They have sometimes been called "gentle giants."  This kind of breed rarely makes trouble for their owners.  It will never occur that a Work Horse has thrown her owner into a ditch out of anger.  Their gentility can be seen in the way they endure stress in every circumstance that confronts them.  They are huge in stature and even when heavy loads are put on them, they would not fail to move.  They will not complain to their owners that "this is too much," which makes them dependable.  As long as the Work Horse knows the way, the owner can sleep off and the chariot will still move on.  When the Work Horse arrives in a place and she is not sure which way to take, she will just stop.  When the owner wakes up and finds they have not arrived at their destination, he will just whip the horse and direct her which way to go.  The Work Horse is ready to work at any time even in the middle of the night.  The blood that flows in their veins is that of work and work only.  If they are not given work, they assume that they are not needed any more.

People with the characteristics of a Work Horse are not self-centred.  Unlike the Show Horse type, who does things for 'show', the Work Horse type is dedicated to seeing that, the core objectives of what he/she is doing, is for the benefit of all not for himself.  Pleasure Horse and Show Horse like avoiding the hardship areas, while the Work Horse kind of persons, are not afraid of challenges that come with tasks.  You would never hear them complaining that there is too much to do!  Such people are not hungry for fame or praise, but they just want to ensure that whatever they do, they do it right.  Their motto is to see that, the company they are working for achieves its objectives.  Getting promoted is secondary, hence the need for quality work for the benefit of all.  They believe in themselves, and are not distracted by petty criticisms, neither are they lovers of idle gossips.  Instead of indulging in blame games, they would rather look for solution.

Last time we dealt in summary on the characteristics of a Pleasure Horse which comprises the first chapter of my book : Mystery of Horses.

Today, we are going to look at another type of horse - the Show Horse.  Show Horses look good on the outside.  Show me a horse that is clean, her hair well combed, and taking its strides gracefully and in a proud manner, and I will tell you this is a Show Horse.  They are more beautiful than other horses.  Such horses are not the type used for war.  They are normally used during parades and national celebrations.  For this reason, they are always decorated.  They call them "mountain troops."  A Show Horse can stand on one spot for a long time, and cannot move even when there is a gunshot.  Try not to notice a Show Horse, and she will make noise...pruuuuuh and knock her legs on the ground in order to draw your attention.

In everyday life we come across people who bear the traits of show horses.  We have one such  lady in the name of Calista working for an auditing firm.  She is an 'eye service' worker who wants all and sundry to notice her work.  Although she is a junior officer, she doesn't want to be regarded as such. At the same time, someone has to commend her work before that of others. As an ardent manipulator, her motive is to have her superiors yield to her whims, something that disgusts her colleagues.   She would make sure the Managing Director notices her very well.  She is always on the front line of  activities when the company is having outdoor functions.  She gets sad when no one compliments  her work or  what she is putting on.  Sometimes she would laugh loudly merely to draw attention.  Her motto is "no one else except me,,,me and only me!"

In my book "The Mystery of Horses, I have tried to describe the characteristics of the 5 categories of horses : The pleasure horse, the show horse, work horse, race horse and the war horse.  These characteristics can easily been identified with human beings.

Today let us talk of the Pleasure Horse:  The pleasure horse is a lazy one.  Please allow me to explain and I am not leashing an attack on anybody through this piece of writing.   But allow me a chance to explain.  A pleasure horse is not trained to work and does not expect to work.  When the owner rides him to places, he does not expect to be hurried.  Let us look at Luciana, she has been married for four years.  She has traits that resemble the pleasure horse.  In fact you may think the genes of the pleasure horse have been transplanted in her. The husband goes to work everyday without breakfast.  Whoop!  Why?  Its not easy to get Luciana out of bed before 12 noon! The pleasure horse she is.  The ideology of the pleasure horse is "no work but all play."  If you see anybody who has traits of a pleasure horse doing anything strenuous, its because there is a good return, a quick profit for that matter.  Otherwise, all they like is eat and sleep, eat more and sleep more.  Just as the real pleasure horse like to be pampered, pleasure horse men/women love to be pampered.  Always, they crave for attention.  Success does not land on such people.  One has to get out of their comfort zones and do something before they attain the true success.

Next we shall talk about the show horse......welcome aboard!  

One time a man named James had problems with his business rivals.  They had castigated him, sneered at him and his family.  James was hurt and wounded so badly because of the hurting remarks his rivals made.  He was full of bitterness and resentment.  He decided to visit a Christian Counselor.  He recounted his story to the Counselor who listened to him attentively.  After listening to him the Counselor gave him this prescription:  "I understand how it feels.  But there's one thing I am going to advise you.  Pray for your rivals and their families.  And when I say pray, I do not mean you pray for evil to befall them.  Instead pray for God to protect their families, give them happiness and health.  As for their company, ask God to prosper them and open more opportunities for them.  Do this everyday and see me again after 7 days."

"You must be joking!  How can I pray good for people who have tarnished the name of my company and smeared mud on my family?  That is almost impossible to do," James said while he doubted the genuineness of the Counselor.  But the Counselor insisted that he do as he says.  James obeyed and went home and began to pray.  After seven days he went back to the Counselor and he had this to say:

          "I have done as you suggested to me.  I feel much better now.  In fact on the 3rd day of prayer, I felt like I was relieved of a heavy burden from my chest.  The hatred and bitterness I had for my rivals, began to diminish.  In fact I started liking them.  On the 6th day of prayer, after I had prayed intensely for them, I decided to pay them a courtesy visit at their offices.  We had a chat and I commended their style of business.  They were surprised, since they were aware that I knew of their slander.  All the same they acknowledged my remarks.    After a lot of pleasant discussions with them, it was now my time to leave.  The senior partner  escorted me on my way out.  He suggested ways we could work out strategies to make both our businesses successful.  From then on our relationship has improved greatly.  The Counselor was happy for him. For those who are Christians, you may refer to Pr. 16:7 - When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.