It was horrid I was jump judging and was very grateful to be sat in a car! At one point I don't know how the horses or riders could see the fences it was coming down so heavily!
Horizontal rain, silly judge sounded horn of big loud 4x4 gave it a real long blast just incase the rain made it difficult to hear. Only trouble is she did it just after horse had passed the car, result was bad horse p1ssed off and ended up entering the arena in a badly controlled 'bolt'. got a 1 for that movement.
Eventually settled but not what you would call a relaxed test. She spooked every time she passed the 'noisy' corner, due to lots of people hiding under a tree!
Other horse got a better score but did a spooky test as the judge started her engine and turned her wipers on as horse was coming up centre line, nearly by the car, she then left the engine running and wipers on squeaking for the duration of the test! Result was horse spooked every time she passed c.
Somehow got 36.5 and in top 1/3 of section - meant to buy some treats for the judges guide dog!
Life begins, were you at the corner after the water? If so sorry for giving you a fright!
I have sympathy but sometimes you just have to run engines and put on wipers.. today was quite a lot of that light rain where you need them on but not enough water to stop them squeeking....
Not sure if the judge just ignored the spooks or didn'r see them, thought the mark would be awful and was pleasantly surprised.
She only commented on 1 spook half way through the test, so guess she missed the rest.
Timing of switching them on was unfortunate though, if they had been on whilst she went around the outside she would have been ok, think they startled her though.
This week I'm putting my car in our school, having horns, wipers etc on! They should both know better as both have been eventing for 7 years!
I was near the end of Z2. Hideous weather... My little horse actually did a really nice test - cautious as the track was like a skating rink - but I was really pleased with him. Judge clearly took an instant dislike and gave him 41... gutted. Was expecting early 30s. Got soaked a few more times. Had a few poles in the SJ. Waded through puddles on the way back to the lorry and w/d. Had a lovely ham cheese and mushroom crepe though.