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North Dakota
NORTH DAKOTA CENTURY CODE
TITLE 53. SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS
CHAPTER 53-10. EQUINE ACTIVITY SPONSOR OR PROFESSIONAL
N.D. Cent. Code, § 53-10-01 (1993)
§ 53-10-01. Definitions.
In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise
requires:
1. "Engages in an equine activity" means a person
who rides, trains, drives, or is a passenger upon an equine,
whether mounted or unmounted, and does not mean a spectator
in equine activity or a person who participates in the equine
activity but does not ride, train, drive, or ride as a passenger
upon an equine.
2. "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or
hinny.
3. "Equine activity" means:
a. An equine show, fair, competition, performance, or parade
that involves any breed of equine in any equine discipline,
including dressage, a hunter and jumper horse show, grand
prix jumping, a three-day event, combined training, a rodeo,
driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, endurance,
trail riding, guided trail rides, pleasure trail riding, wagon
and buggy rides, and western games, and hunting;
b. An equine training or teaching activity;
c. Boarding an equine;
d. 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;
e. A ride, trip, hunt, or other equine activity of any type
however informal or impromptu that is sponsored by an equine
activity sponsor.
4. "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual,
group, club, partnership, corporation, or limited liability
company, whether or not the sponsor is operating for profit
or nonprofit, which sponsors, organizes, or provides the facility
for an equine activity including but not limited to: a pony
club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club, school or college-sponsored
class or program, therapeutic riding program, and an operator,
instructor, or promoter of an equine facility including but
not limited to a stable, clubhouse, pony ride string, fair,
or arena at which the activity is held.
5. "Equine professional" means a person engaged
for compensation in:
a. Instructing a participant or renting to a participant an
equine for the purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger
upon an equine; or
b. In renting equipment or tack to a participant.
6. "Participant" means any person, whether amateur
or professional, who directly engages in an equine activity,
whether or not a fee is paid to participate in the equine
activity.
§ 53-10-02. Liability of equine activity sponsor or equine
professional limited.
1. Except as provided in subsection 2, an equine activity
sponsor or an equine professional is not liable for an injury
to or the death of a participant engaged in an equine activity,
and, except as provided in subsection 2, no participant or
participant's representative may maintain an action against
or recover from an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional
for an injury to or the death of a participant engaged in
an equine activity. This chapter does not apply to the horse
racing industry as regulated in chapter 53-06.2.
2. Nothing in subsection 1 prevents or limits the liability
of an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional:
a. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional:
(1) Provided the equipment or tack and the equipment or tack
caused the injury; or
(2) 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, to determine the
ability of the equine to behave safely with the participant,
and to determine the ability of the participant to safely
manage the particular equine;
b. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional
owns, leases, rents, or otherwise is in lawful possession
and control of the land or facility upon which the participant
sustained an injury because of the dangerous latent condition
which was known to or should have been known to the equine
activity sponsor or the equine professional and for which
a warning sign has not been conspicuously posted;
c. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional
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;
d. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional
intentionally injures the participant;
e. Under products liability provisions as set forth in products
liability laws; or
f. Under liability provisions in chapter 36-11.
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