You've heard an age old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but You can't make him Drink" That saying is not always true. Why? Because the story doesnt tell you if the one leading has any knowledge, wisdom, or understanding of horses or what makes them drink.
That person leading the horse must encourage it to drink and the one true way is to give it something that makes that horse want to drink.
This is a metaphor for getting people to do something they wouldn't normally do.
To get the horse to drink all one has to do is salt the oats. By salting the oats the horse will seek water and will drink after eating those oats. If you want someone to do something then first look at the metaphor of the horse:
A. The horse can be lead to something it enjoys but doesn't want at the present time;
B. Salt the oats and the horse will drink the water.
C. Why will salt make that horse drink a lot quicker? Salt puts the thirst center on alert because things are too salty and the body needs water to dilute the salt,
This principle can be used in many situations with people. Not to manipulate. More to nudge someone in a direction.
Example: Joe loves him some Kid Rock music and Jill has just heard that Kid Rock is coming to town next month on concert. She mentions it to Joe but he tells her can't go because he is scheduled to work a third shift. Unbeknownst to Joe, Jill buys 2 tickets to the concert and tells Joe "we're going to Kid Rock!!!" While waving those tickets!
Joe is now going to Kid Rock regardless of his work. The tickets are the "salt" because KR is the water that will only appear in concert once during year and Jill walked that horse (Joe) to the "water" i.e. the mention of the KR concert but it wasn't until those "salty" tickets being waived in Joe's face did get the urge to drink.
