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New Hampshire
CHAPTER 508
LIMITATION OF ACTIONS
Section 508:19
508:19 Liability; Equine Activities. – I.
In this section:
(a) "Engages in an equine activity" means rides
or drives an equine; or assists in medical treatment of an
equine; or is a passenger upon an equine; or is a passenger
in a vehicle drawn by an equine; or trains, whether mounted
or unmounted, an equine; or who is involved in event management.
The term "engages in an equine activity" does not
include being a spectator at an equine activity, except in
cases where the spectator is in an unauthorized area and in
immediate proximity to the equine activity.
(b) "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or
hinny>.
(c) "Equine activity" means:
(1) Equine shows, fairs, competitions, performances, or parades
that involve any or all breeds of equines and any of the
equine disciplines, including, but not limited to, dressage,
hunter and jumper horse shows, grand prix jumping, 3-day
events, combined training, rodeos, driving, pulling, cutting,
polo, steeple chasing, hunting, english and western performance
riding, endurance riding, games, and eventing.
(2) Equine training or teaching activities.
(3) Boarding equines.
(4) Riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to
another, whether or not the owner has received some monetary
consideration or other thing of value for the use of the
equine or is permitting a prospective purchaser of the equine
to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine.
(5)
Rides, trips, hunts, field trials, or other equine activities
of any type, however informal or impromptu, that are sponsored
by an equine activity sponsor.
(6)
Placing or replacing shoes on an equine.
(d)
"Equine activity sponsor" means an individual,
group, club, partnership, or corporation, whether or not
the sponsor is operating for profit or not for profit, which
sponsors, organizes, or provides for, equine activities,
including, but not limited to, pony clubs, 4-H clubs, field
trial clubs, hunt clubs, riding clubs, school and college
sponsored classes, programs and activities, therapeutic
riding programs, stables, clubhouses, pony ride strings,
fairs, and arenas at which the activity is held.
(e)
"Equine professional" means a person engaged for
compensation:
(1)
In instructing a participant or renting to a participant
an equine for the purpose of riding, driving, or being a
passenger upon the equine.
(2)
In renting equipment or tack to a participant.
(3)
In providing daily care of horses boarded at an equine facility.
(4)
In training an equine.
(f)
"Inherent risks of equine activities" means those
dangers and conditions which are an integral part of equine
activities, including, but not limited to:
(1)
The propensity of an equine to behave in ways that may result
in injury, harm, or death to persons on or around them.
(2)
The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to such things
as sounds, sudden movements, and unfamiliar objects, persons,
or other animals.
(3)
Certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions
not obvious to the equine participant or not known and reasonably
not known by the equine professional or sponsor.
(4)
Collisions with other equines or objects that can be reasonably
foreseen as a result of normal equine activities.
(5)
The potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner
that may contribute to injury of the participant or others,
such as failing to maintain control over the animal or not
acting within the participant's ability; except where said
negligence can be reasonably foreseen and the equine professional
or sponsor has failed to take any corrective measures.
(g)
"Participant" means any person, whether amateur
or professional, who engages in an equine activity, whether
or not a fee is paid to participate in the equine activity.
II.
Except as provided in paragraph III of this section, an
equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any
other person engaged in an equine activity, shall not be
liable for an injury or the death of a participant resulting
from the inherent risks of equine activities and, except
as provided in paragraph III of this section, no participant's
representative shall make any claim against, maintain an
action against, or recover from any other person for injury,
loss, damage, or death of a participant resulting from any
of the inherent risks of equine activities. Each participant
in an equine activity expressly assumes the risk of and
legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person
or property which results from participation in an equine
activity. Each participant shall have the sole responsibility
for knowing the range of his or her ability to manage, care
for, and control a particular equine or perform a particular
equine activity, and it shall be the duty of each participant
to act within the limits of the participant's own ability,
to maintain reasonable control of the particular equine
at all times while participating in an equine activity,
to heed all posted warnings, and to refrain from acting
in a manner which may cause or contribute to the injury
of any person.
III.
Nothing in paragraph II of this section shall prevent or
limit the liability of an equine activity sponsor, an equine
professional, or any other person engaged in an equine activity,
if the equine activity sponsor, equine professional, or
person:
(a)
Provided the equipment or tack, and knew or should have
known that the equipment or tack was faulty, and such equipment
or tack was faulty to the extent that it did cause the injury;
or
(b)
Provided the equine and failed to make reasonable and prudent
efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage
safely in the equine activity.
(c)
Owns, leases, rents, or otherwise is in lawful possession
and control of the land or facilities upon which the participant
sustained injuries because of a dangerous latent condition
which was known to the equine activity sponsor, equine professional,
or person and for which warning signs have not been conspicuously
posted.
(d)
Commits an act or omission that constitutes willful or wanton
disregard for the safety of the participant, and that act
or omission caused the injury.
(e)
Intentionally injures the participant.
Source.
1998, 24:2, eff. Jan. 1, 1999.
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