Jump Judge

You sit by the side of an XC fence and fill out a sheet with competitor numbers stating if theyve gone clear over your fence, refused etc.
 
It can be really easy at a simple fence ... but can be hugely complicated at a difficult one! OH and I were jump-judging at a water jump in the pouring rain last year. As horses came round the corner and saw the water they started napping and resisting. At which point OH had to jump out with his stopwatch to see if they were resisting for over 60 seconds, when he had to eliminate them. Unfortunately they couldn't just bypass the water, they had to take a huge detour to get past, so he had to give them directions. By the time he had eliminated them and directed them the next one was coming through - one of those then napped badly and dumped the rider. As OH was trying to sort that out, another rider appeared and her horse started to resist as well. So OH was trying to time the resistance and assist the decanted rider.

In his haste to leave the vehicle to assist the fallen rider, OH left the car window open and the rain poured in and started to dissolve the ink on our jump judging pads! Thankfully, I noticed before all the evidence was irretriviably washed away!

To cap it all, one rider took the wrong course and was eliminated because of her error, then tried to blame it on us! (Actually, she didn't initially, but was too scared to tell her mother that she had mucked up, so eventually tried to blame the jump judges). Thankfully, there was an independent witness nearby who was able to clarify the situation!

We are going to jump judge again this year, but have requested that we do not have to deal with the water!
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It can be fun, but like TGM has pointed out - can be stressful! Totally depends on the fence! And you CAN get the odd peed off rider... You do have to step in sometimes too - I fence judged last year at a PC event. A kid fell off at our fence (which apparently was her 2nd fall) and she lost the plot, screaming at her horse, yanking it in the mouth and getting her whip ready. We lept out and had to grab the horse off her to which she started yelling at us. The paramedic was nearby (who is known for being opinionated!) and screamed at her to walk home without her horse! She humphed off in tears. Ive never seen a PC kid be so horrifically behaved. She really let down PC that day!
 
Can be a lovely day, esp if yopu get provided with a yummy packed lunch. At my RC we have a list of competitors, we ofted play guess what horse - ie Apache warrior - I think a coloured cob - no its a shetalnd - you get the idea, the most correct answers wins the last piece of home made chocolate cake mmmmmmm. Cant do this if you have a tricky jump. I love blowing my whistle to get walkers to clear the track, the power just goes straight to my head.
 
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