Release of Liability Parent Minor - Horse Equine Forms
North Dakota Equine
Activity Statutes
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, steeple chasing,
endurance, trail riding, guided trail rides, pleasure trail riding, wagon
and buggy rides, and western games and hunting;
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; and
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
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:
(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;
