I find it incredibly sad that you have to get 3 yellow cards in one year for it to become public knowledge. What is the reasoning behind this?
If you are talking about the FEI Yellow Card list, It is public and any recorded warnings or yellow cards show up for any discipline under FEI governance.
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USDF/USEF competitions. If riders behave in a way that they are issued a yellow card at a show, I can only imagine what they do at home. I think it is important for this to be public info as many riders have clients and client horses. How can we make informed decisions about where to send our horses if we don’t have access to this information?
Ask this question of USDF/USEF because it is only pressure from concerned membership that will bring about change.
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FEI yellow cards and USEF/USDF yellow cards have different meanings and thresholds.
For USDF/USEF. 2. A Yellow Warning Card can be issued for minor offenses only and should not be used for abuse or major infractions of the rules.
So because it’s minor infraction, it’s not considered a big deal until you get to the suspension stage. An FEI yellow card is considered a much bigger deal than a minor infraction.
But I agree, it should be posed to USEF.
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That is correct. It is for minor infractions, such as unclipping your helmet harness to remove headphones in the warmup arena (you are supposed to dismount to do that); repeatedly failing to put your number on; or maybe some tack infraction (like putting spurs on upside down). It could be something totally done by mistake, which is why you get 3 strikes.
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I did. They said that’s just how they do it.
The particular case I am concerned with is an instance of beating a horse and ripping on the mouth.
Yellow card warnings are not for abuse violations See gr 1037 section 5
- The issuance of a Yellow Warning Card is not meant to replace the filing of a Disciplinary Action Complaint for a willful and serious violation of Federation rules, and in no case may a Yellow Warning Card be issued for abuse of a horse in any form. It is for lesser offenses only.
If you did not file a grievance, nor was it witnessed by a TD then there is nothing to be done. If it was witnessed by a judge or TD then they determine if it rose to the level of charges (seriousness)
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Thank you for this clarification. I was unable
To find this.
On that note it would be nice to align with FEI on the standards for yellow cards and maybe rename the minor offense system…
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I was unaware we even had a yellow card system in dressage.
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It is a General Rule in USEF and applicable to all the disciplines
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What do you think yellow cards are issued for? Your comment makes me think you are expecting drugging or abuse = yellow cards. You might be talking about something else than yellow cards.
If charges were filed for rules violations ( not a YC but the higher level) you often do not hear about it until after due process and arbitration at which point the penalty will be published.
I am an Eventing TD, not a Dressage official
USEF “Yellow Cards” are defined in the general rules, and apply to all disciplines. As mentioned earlier, they are for “minor infractions”.
I have been a TD for over 10 years, and I have only issued one Yellow Card (and that was at the insistence of the Pres of GJ, I would not have initiated it on my own). it was for a rider at Beginner Novice, at his first recognized HT, who did not realize that, after being eliminated for refusals, he was no allowed to jump another fence before leaving the course.
ETA, he was already eliminated for refusals. The only additional penalties specified in the rules were a warning (Yellow Card) or $100 fine. The Yellow Card was the lesser penalty.
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So are we talking about something you saw personally? How did you know they got a yellow card?
To be fair, my assumption was that USEF yellow cards used the same criteria as FEI yellow cards, you know, the ones that have “abuse of horse” as one of the first boxes to available to check, so that is literally what I was expecting until I learned otherwise…
(I think it’s kind of dumb they aren’t using the same criteria now that I know they are different)
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I am talking about abuse towards an animals welfare
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Which is, by definition (as quoted above), NOT a USEF Yellow Card.
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