Sorry for the awful wait on this Shaw ;~; 300+

Somehow the Utina male had slept in later than was his usual custom this day and when his light blue eyes finally opened up he was surprised to see the sun shining full bright. Nayati started up, quickly rubbing the sleep from his eyes. How had he slept so late? Of course this would happen on a day that he had plans and someone was expecting him to be somewhere. This was the day that he and Liliana had chose to train some of the unclaimed horses to be used on hunts. Cursing lightly under his breath he got to his feet and grabbed his bow and quiver, slinging them both of his shoulder and rushing out of his hut towards where the tribe kept its supply of hunting implements. He ducked inside and grabbed the first spear he saw and then began to was briskly to the stables. Part of the training would include getting the animals used to the tools that were used in a hunt.

Thankfully Nayati's legs were long and his large strides brought him quickly from the village proper to the stables that laid just outside. He wasn't even breathing heavy when he walked into the building and saw his friend stroking the nose of the horse he assumed was to be their first trainee. A smile instantly lit his handsome face as he saw the hybrid woman, always happy to be in her presence. "Good day Liliana. I hope I did not keep you waiting long." The distance between them was quickly closed and looked appreciatively at the horse. "This is the fellow we will be working with then?" He looked strong, but strength was only a part of the equation. Still, he knew that Liliana would have chosen him for this because of his temperament and that abilities he had displayed to her thus far.

One of these days I'll stop sucking, I swear -_-; 300+

Her smile was like sunshine to him, and made his own grin grow even wider. It was funny to think back on their first couple encounters and think of the shy, unsure woman he had first met. Her confidence had grown much throughout their friendship and it was clear that she felt more at home here in the tribe now than she ever had before. He knew it must have had a lot to do with finding her Spirit Guide, for one's Guide was a large part of who they were in AniWaya. Nayati couldn't imagine not having Onawa around, so he knew that the hybrid femme must feel so much more at ease now that Ouray had come to her.

Nayati was thankfully she hadn't been waiting for him over long, and listened as she explained why she had chosen this particular horse for their training. "Perfect, I knew you would make a good choice." While he did have some experience in training horses, it was minimal, and he knew that Liliana was much more knowledgeable than he on this line of work. The only horse he worked with here was Iye, so he wouldn't have been able to make an educated choice. She knew all the horses though, and had clearly picked the most promising.

He followed with the spear and bow as she lead their pupil out of the stables and into the pasture that was just outside of the building. Liliana questioned what it was that he would do first, and then spoke on what her mother had taught her to do. Honestly, the specifics and order of horse training was a little vague in his head for he hadn't worked on all that many horses and he had been in the lower ranks of the hunting echelon in the Great Tribe. "I don't remember exactly what we did first, it would change from time to time, but running at obstacles sounds like a good place to start to me," he said brightly. "How would you like to go about it? Should I ride him?"

yay no suck this time! 300+

His uncertainty had nothing to do with not wanting to do this, he just wasn't as knowledgeable about the tribe's training techniques as some. His experience in it was cursory at best, and so he knew that Liliana would have a much better idea of how to proceed than he did. Mostly what he had done was to be on the horse's backs and guiding them while the more experienced hunter and trainers told him what to do to get the horse in shape. Young ones such as himself were much easier to heal if they got bucked off than the elders, so they were the ones to be put to the riskier tasks. Once he actually got up on the horse, he would feel more confident in his abilities. So, he was glad when she agreed to his riding the stallion. However, she did point out a bit of an issue: there weren't really many obstacles around to train against. "Hmmm," he said, pondering what they could do to remedy the situation.

The horse was clearly getting anxious to work and even though Lili did her best to calm him, his energy still ran high. While a willingness to work was good, the more his energy got pent up, the harder he would be to control once the actual training started. They needed to move fast. She looked to him for suggestions, but before a single seed of an idea had come to his mind, a large smile came over her face and she handed him the reins of the horse. Nayati took the lead, and watched curiously as the hybrid woman disappeared back inside. A moment later he heard her making some loud noises and soon enough some cows were making their way out into the pasture. As she returned over to him, panting, he smiled brightly at her. "What a great idea! This will serve perfectly. Plus herding them back will be good training for him as well." Sometimes hunters needed to funnel a herd of running animals in a certain direction, and that's exactly the kind of guidance the cattle would need as well.

"Well, let us start then!" He comfortingly patted the stallion's neck and spoke to him softly before carefully mounting up on his back. The horse moved a little uneasily for a moment, but soon calmed himself. Nayati could feel the energy crackling in the hooved beast's muscles and so nudged his sides to make him move forward, using the reins to direct him in the direction of the nearest cow. As expected, when they drew close, the horse slowed and shied away a bit, but the Utina man firmly directed him to move past the cow in close proximity. It wasn't as close as they could get, but it was certainly a start.

Whee! Grats on 200! Oh trust me, I'm totally improvising as well. We can be incorrect together XD

Nayati gave the stallion a pat on his neck for doing as good a job as could be expected for a first try. Things were hardly at a stand-still though, as Liliana got one of the cows moving around. The horse's ears perked forward and he issued a snort. Nayati gave him the reins and and he ran towards the animal to try and outdistance it. As the neared the moving bovine, once again he tugged on the reins to keep the horse closer to the other animal than it was naturally wont to be. It still fought him a little, but the stallion seemed to be realizing that the Utina was in charge here. The horse was determined to pass the cow, and Nayati let it, but once they were ahead he pulled on the reins to bring the horse circling in front of the cow to halt it. The other hooved animal gave an indignant moo as its path was cut off. "How does he look from your perspective so far?" There was only so much he could tell from horseback. It was incredibly early in the training, but so far he was pleased with this horse's capabilities.

Today he had taken the role of being the rider, but hoped to soon see how Liliana handled herself when training upon the horse. He couldn't help the slightly protective feeling that rose up in him at the thought of her being placed in the more dangerous situation. It was in his nature to protect those he cared about and he had no issues placing himself in harm's way to keep another from it. The Kanati squashed that feeling as best as he could though; Liliana was the true trainer here, she knew what she was doing better than he. She knew the risks, and took them willingly. It was not his place to try and protect her in this.

He was glad to hear that things were looking good from her perspective on the ground as well. That was all that was said before she got another cow moving, this time in a different direction: towards him and the horse. For a moment Nayati thought the stallion might falter, even though the cows were hardly intimidating, but this beast had spirit. He snorted and pawed the ground, turning to face the other herbivore. Grinning, Nayati urged him on straight at the cow and passed close to the side once again, this time closer and with less effort from him. Once past the cow, he patted the horse's neck, transmitting his approval.