The uplifting process from mundane animal to Animalian brought about many sets of beliefs and stances that had a fair number of similarities to Human society, and the conversion from Human to Animalian often had a similar effect in that many of the stances taken as Humans often lessened as a result of the conversion. It was one of those things that made Animalians less likely to engage in things like an aggressive war or see any practical reason in going after people for their sexuality or anything else. These were all things that made Animalia attractive to many people, but they didn't cover or remove everything that came from the respective animals the Animalian was based on. It was all something where animal instinct could carry over, even if the Animalian knew that other Animalians wouldn't outright follow those base instincts against other Animalians.
Animalians that were carnivorous tended to still have the base desire to hunt and chase things, and Animalians based off of herbivorous animals could still have that fight or flight instinct kick in when meeting with predatory Animalians they didn't know. About the only ones that really didn't have any real fear were the megafauna Animalians, like the Elephant and Rhinoceros Animalians... though they might have some measure of instinctual fear when running into one of the larger predatory Dinotopians. Only Andrew and the other large Sauropod Dinotopians were at sizes that they wouldn't feel threatened by the larger predatory Dinotopians. But the presence and pull of these instincts could represent troubles, but they were also soon taken as a challenge. That was then what spawned the Hunter Games as part of the IAC, which tried to duplicate "hunting" situations and show a means for both to exercise a contest of skill.
There wouldn't be any actual hunting or combat between predator and prey, in keeping with Animalia's edicts, as actual hunting was something that could be lethal in the animal kingdom. Predators at times were killed by the very prey they hunted, and the Hunter Games were designed to serve for a means to exercise those instincts without having an actual fight. "Prey" Animalians would wear a flag that the "predator" Animalian had to remove and have that equal the proverbial "kill" if it were an actual hunt. They would then cover a set distance, if the "prey" Animalian without getting the flag pulled, it would "escape," and if the "predator" Animalian managed to catch the flag in some way, the "hunt" was successful. And the matches were arranged to fit all willing Animalians by all ready groups and this included all genders or teams. It would only be cases of “teams” when a male would potentially face a female.
There were other cases that would be different, but those cases also involved situations that would involve situations that would be a bit different from those that would be team situations. That largely related to Animalia's various herms, where the Animalian was both male and female, and that both genders were fully functional. Though, this didn't necessarily change the interest that people had in observing these parts of the IAC in seeing on how Animalians could compete against each other. Even some Animalians were happy to come and watch the events, often when family was involved.
"Now, Indy, you'll be good for your distant cousin, Samson and his mate?" Goldenrod said to Indy, "while mommy and daddy are in their competition?"
Indy slowly nodded and reached up to take Samson's hand, who happily took it. The use of what would be considered male and female terms for Goldenrod and Hirshi might have seemed odd, given that both were herms, as was Indy, but there was a sort of method to that use. Goldenrod could remember giving birth to Indy and in that sense WAS Indy's mother. It was still an unknown as to whether or not Hirshi was Indy's biological father, but the herm horses had largely accepted things and Hirshi was happy to fit the role. So, while their gender was both male and female, they individually fit within those family roles.
Which then fit in for their matches against two herm Lions, Petra and Cameron. On some level, it was an odd matchup, largely as horses, at least those that man domesticated were not native to Africa. and the equines that the African Lion hunted were Zebra, but as the signup sheets for the year's IAC went around the previous year, if Animalia had any herm Zebras, they didn't sign up for the IAC and the Hunter Games specifically. Thus, the matchup between Petra against Goldenrod and Cameron against Hirshi was made as a sort of approximation, as Zebras were distantly related to horses. All sides accepted it and trained hard for it.
"You'll win?" Indy asked to Goldenrod.
"We'll do our best," Hirshi gave a smile, "they won't get our flags that easily."
Hirshi then flicked the colored flag that was attached to a harness around Goldenrod's neck. Goldenrod nickered at that while shaking hir muzzle side to side. Indy smiled while holding Samson's hand.
"And we'll be rooting for you," Abby said to Goldenrod from beside her mate.
Goldenrod nodded and then moved with Hirshi back toward the starting line for their match in the Hunter Games. Petra and Cameron were waiting for them close to the starting point.
"Ready for the chase?" Petra asked to Goldenrod as they shook hands.
"Technically, I'm the one being chased," Goldenrod answered, "but I am ready and have been practicing... You?"
"I've been training too... and getting lots of questions from some of the local Humans on a herm Lion in the Hunter Games," Petra chuckled, "I just have to give a base explanation on being both male and female."
"Well, good luck," Goldenrod commented and then moved to hir starting position.
"Just be sure not to kick," Petra called as shi walked to her starting point, about fifteen feet away and from Goldenrod's starting point, "this isn't the wrestling matches at the Claw Coliseum."
Goldenrod only nickered again and got into hir starting position, while waiting for the starting gun. And in the Hunter Games, that then came in a set start. Because nearly all predators in nature preferred to come from either behind or the side of their prey, the "predator" Animalian would often get a short head start and the "prey" Animalian would actually get its cue to move based on its perception of its "pursuer's" movement and thus playing to the needed reaction speed that prey species often needed to avoid being eaten. Goldenrod readied hirself and it wasn't long before the event did start. The starting pistol was fired, and Goldenrod watched as Petra sprung forward, to which shi reacted.
And Goldenrod's reaction was quick, and she was able to get into a sprint, and that then brought things into where certain predators had advantages. A mundane horse could easily outrun a lion in a straight sprint, as it's longer legs and longer stride would allow for that kind of speed. In addition, horses generally had better endurance than wild felids and thus could run for a longer period before tiring. However, predators like lions had better acceleration, and thus why big cats, including lions preferred to get close to prey before springing. The Hunter Games then put that position into place to see how well the "pursued" could then adapt to it, which many times required rapidly changing direction, which Goldenrod did hir best to do. The first jink worked out well and Goldenrod watched Petra practically fly by her in rapid succession and giving hir some room to try and build up hir own speed.
Goldenrod also knew shi would have to be careful with these sorts of moves. For while zebras worked with these sorts of tactics, they were also smaller and more rugged than domestic horses that didn't run in the same manner. This would enable zebra to make these sorts of turns in a rather rapid succession. A horse would likely break a leg trying to pivot at the same sort of measure as a zebra, and making those tight turns would still require a wider turn because of its greater mass and longer, and thus thinner, legs. Goldenrod had to pay attention to this and kept one eye looking backward to where Petra was as the herm Lion Animalian recovered and was moving to catch up and close the distance, knowing that making such tight turns would also take Goldenrod's speed advantage away from hir. But Goldenrod paid attention, and the areas set up for the Hunter Games were open and "safe" enough that things like marshy or overly rocky ground wouldn't be a hinderance and shi was soon hearing the loud cheers from Indy, Samson, and Abby.
That drove Goldenrod onward and she managed to just outrun the second lunge from Petra, who again missed Goldenrod's flag and let her pull ahead and cross the line that would mark as "end line" where the pursuit ended. Petra eventually followed and approached slowly and breathing heavily.
"Man... you did well," Petra said to Goldenrod, "not bad for a riding horse."
Goldenrod smiled with some measure of pride, but shi had to admit that Petra had come close, "you came close... so, for a converted Human, you've picked up a lot of skill."
"Both Cameron and I got a fair amount of practice and some of the established prides have been willing to accept a couple of herms joining them on hunting trips for deer during the hunting season," Petra answered.
Cameron and Hirshi's match followed shortly after Petra and Goldenrod's match. And while the first two hadn't been cleared yet to rejoin Abby and Samson, along with the other viewers, they were able to observe the match. Hirshi ran hard and kept ahead of Cameron's first lunge, but unlike Petra, Cameron paced hirself and managed to calculate the pattern at how Hirshi was running hir own efforts to match what Goldenrod had managed. This forced Hirshi to have to keep up with hir shifting direction in the hopes of luring Cameron into making a hasty lunge to try and grab the flag. But Cameron never moved in a hasty manner and just before Hirshi crossed the "escape line," Cameron accelerated to top speed and managed to grab the flag, which popped off the lanyard collar that Hirshi wore and marked a split in their respective matches. Goldenrod managed to escape Petra while Cameron managed to catch Hirshi. But they managed to end things rather amicably.
"Man... you're faster than I expected," Hirshi said to Cameron as some of the gathered crowd approached.
"No, you're probably faster... but I managed to keep you waiting for when I'd spring, and thus you were having to zig and zag more, which slowed you down," Cameron answered, "and let me keep pace and calculate when I'd need to accelerate to top speed and catch you while you were coming out of a turn... It was more brain than speed..."
"Well, you still did well," Hirshi said to Cameron only to draw a response from Indy as Samson and Abby escorted hir forward.
"You'll win next time, daddy!" Indy cheered.
Hirshi chuckled a little bit and Indy's continued excitement and Cameron managed a small smile at the moments in the Hunter Games where sportsmanship stood there as a universal sign.