The average AA is becoming the low-hanging fruit that makes them look and feel like they are doing something useful.
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By all means, appeal !!
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Right?
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We just took our bridles to the show day early for TD to check… she accepted a Fairfax double with padding as you described… good lord; it’s really getting ridiculous.
My other fav rule change effective this September is the total comfort bridles now need a throatlatch. I’m still trying to figure out WHY… I mean it’s next to useless and has no effect on function of the bridle or the the horse for that matter.
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The throatlatch rule applies to all bridles now, I know of a few people who were scrambling to find new bridles or throatlatch pieces weeks before a national show.
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Well, I’d argue a throatlatch being necessary makes more sense than this ridiculousness about the crown piece.
A throatlatch, correctly adjusted, can prevent a bridle from accidentally coming off over the ears, which with bonnets can happen rather easily.
Caveat: I wrote “can” because some horse head shapes the throatlatch will not prevent this.
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Correction–it applies to all bridles EXCEPT specifically the Micklem bridle. Why the Micklem is excluded (or why the rule was put in place to begin with) I don’t know. I ride in a Micklem (the only thing that really helped out my horse’s head fussiness) and the whole thing makes me nervous because I just feel like I’ll have to justify it every time.
I just… gosh I don’t understand. What about a Micklem knock off like FreeRide? Do those have to have throatlatches? Why should brand matter for this kind of thing? And if it doesn’t, where does the poor TD draw the line?
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I saw that and didn’t want to get into it. There are several bridles that mimic or knock off the micklem and I didn’t want to ponder if all those were legal or illegal
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I’m sorry for your yellow card.
I was told by a TD early in the season that they had to start issuing yellow cards for all infractions as there were “habitual” people that knew the rules but would keep flying under the radar and pushing boundaries.
I am a fan of printing out any communication from USEF on legality of bits, tack, etc as there are definitely discrepancies between USEF and how USDF interprets the rules.
However, the bridle in question, I can see in the general discussions how it would be considered illegal.
The yellow card sucks. It really does but it’s the guidelines that the TDs are to follow now and if they don’t and someone lodges a complaint, it’s also an issue for them. An absolute no win situation.
I would email USEF and ask for clarification on that specific crownpiece for legality and if they state it’s legal, then you could try and dispute the yellow card…
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Beyond stupid. Someone needs to show USEF the research behind Fairfax bridles and how horse friendly they are. And ffs get the TDs all on the same standard. At this point I’d rather they just copy whatever rules the FEI has. It would make it easier for all of us.
So. Aggravatingly. Stupid.
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Giving a yellow card to someone who is habitual who has been flying under the radar and pushing boundaries makes total sense.
It would be a great way of saying - stop breaking the rules, here is your warning before further action.
Issuing it to someone who last show a couple of weeks before was told their bridle is fine and has no history of rule breaking seems quite overboard.
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You could just copy/paste this whole post into the “What is killing recognized dressage shows?” thread. 
I fail to see the logic behind banning equipment that would make a horse more comfortable.
Also, who in their right mind would want to be a TD these days???
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