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Alabama Equine Activity Statutes
Section 6-5-337
Immunity of those involved in equine activities.
(a) The legislature recognizes that persons who participate in equine
activities may incur injuries as a result of the risks involved in those
activities. The legislature also finds that the state and its citizens
derive numerous economic and personal benefits from equine activities.
The legislature finds, determines, and declares that for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, and to encourage
equine activities, this legislation is to limit the civil liability of
those involved in equine activities.
(b) As used in this section, the following words shall mean the
following unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) ENGAGES IN AN EQUINE ACTIVITY. Riding, training, providing,
or assisting in providing medical treatment of, driving, or being a passenger
upon an equine, whether mounted or unmounted, or any person assisting a
participant or show management in equine activities. The term does not
include being a spectator at an equine activity, except in cases where
the spectator places himself or herself in an unauthorized area and in
immediate proximity to the equine activity.
(2) EQUINE. A horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny.
(3) EQUINE ACTIVITY. Any of the following:
a. 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, three-day events, combined training, rodeos,
driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and western performance
riding, endurance trail riding and western games, and hunting.
b. Equine training or teaching activities, or both.
c. Boarding equines.
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. Rides, trips, hunts, or other equine activities of any type,
however informal or impromptu, that are sponsored by an equine-activity
sponsor.
f. Placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine.
g. Examining or administering medical treatment to an equine by
a veterinarian.
(4) EQUINE ACTIVITY SPONSOR. An individual, group, club, partnership,
or corporation, whether or not the sponsor is operating for profit or nonprofit,
which sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities for an equine activity,
including, but not limited to: pony clubs, 4-H clubs, hunt clubs, riding
clubs, school and college sponsored classes, programs, and activities,
therapeutic riding programs, and operators, instructors, and promoters
of equine facilities, including, but not limited to, stables, clubhouses,
ponyride strings, fairs, and arenas at which the activity is held.
(5) EQUINE PROFESSIONAL. 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
the equine.
b. Renting equipment or tack to a participant.
c. Examining or administering medical treatment to an equine as
a veterinarian.
(6) INHERENT RISKS OF EQUINE ACTIVITIES. Those dangers or conditions
which are an integral part of equine activities, including, but not limited
to:
a. The propensity of an equine to behave in ways that may
result in injury, harm, or death to persons on or around them.
b. The unpredictability of the reaction of an equine to sounds,
sudden movement, and unfamiliar objects, persons, or other animals.
c. Certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions.
d. Collisions with other equines or objects.
e. The potential of a participant to act in a negligent manner that
may contribute to injury to the participant or others, such as failing
to maintain control over the animal or not acting within his or her ability.
(7) PARTICIPANT. 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.
(c)(1) Except as provided in subdivisions (c)(2) and (c)(3), an
equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person, which
shall include a corporation or partnership, shall not be liable for an
injury to or the death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks
of equine activities and, except as provided in subdivisions (c)(2) and
(c)(3), no participant or representative of a participant shall make any
claim against, maintain an action against, or recover from an equine-activity
sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person for injury, loss,
damage, or death of the participant resulting from any of the inherent
risks of equine activities.
(2) Nothing in subdivision (c)(1) shall prevent or limit the liability
of an equine-activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person
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 the equipment or tack
was faulty to the extent that it did cause the injury.
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 and to safely manage the particular equine based on
the participant's representations of his or her ability.
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 or should
have been 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.
(3) Nothing in subdivision (c)(1), shall prevent or limit the liability
of an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional under liability
provisions as set forth in the products liability laws.
(d)(1) Every equine professional and every equine-activity sponsor
shall post and maintain signs which contain the warning notice specified
in subdivision (d)(2). Signs shall be placed in a clearly visible location
on or near stables, corrals, or areas where the equine professional or
the equine-activity sponsor conducts equine activities. The warning notice
specified in subdivision (d)(2) shall appear on the sign in black letters,
with each letter to be a minimum of one inch in height. Every written contract
entered into by an equine professional or by an equine-activity sponsor
for the providing of professional services, instruction, or the rental
of equipment or tack or an equine to a participant, whether or not the
contract involves equine activities on or off the location or site of the
equine professional's or the equine-activity sponsor's business, shall
contain in clearly readable print the warning notice specified in subdivision
(d)(2).
(2) The signs and contracts described in subdivision (d)(1) shall
contain the following warning notice:
Warning
Under Alabama law, an equine activity sponsor or equine professional
is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant in equine
activities resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities, pursuant
to the Equine Activities Liability Protection Act.
(3) Failure to comply with the requirements concerning warning signs
and notices provided in this section shall prevent an equine-activity sponsor
or equine professional from invoking the privileges of immunity provided
by this section.
(Acts 1993, No. 93-601, §§1-4.)
