Release of Liability Owner Rider - Horse Equine Forms
§ 4101
Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms have the following meanings.
1. Boarding stable.
2. Commercial riding facility.
3. Engage in an equine activity.
4. Equine. "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey or hinny.
5. Equine activity. "Equine activity" includes but is not limited
to the following:
A. Riding or driving an equine or riding as a passenger
on or in a vehicle powered by an equine;
B. Equine training, teaching or testing activities;
C. Boarding or keeping an equine, including, but not limited to,
normal daily care of an equine;
D. Riding, inspecting or evaluating an equine belonging to another
person, 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. Providing or assisting in the provision of hoof care, including,
but not limited to, horseshoeing;
G. Trailering, loading, unloading or transporting an equine;
H. Providing or assisting in the provision of veterinary treatment
or maintenance care for an equine;
I. Conducting or assisting in the conducting of procedures necessary
to breed an equine by means of artificial insemination or otherwise;
J. Participating in an equine activity sponsored by an equine activity
sponsor;
K. Participating or assisting a participant in an equine activity
at an equine event;
L. Managing or assisting in the managing of an equine in an equine
event;
M. Showing or displaying an equine;
N. Operating or assisting in the operation of an equine event;
O. Providing or assisting in the provision of equine dental care;
and
P. Participating in racing.
6. Equine activity sponsor. "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual,
group, club, partnership, corporation or other entity, whether operating
for profit or nonprofit, that sponsors, organizes or provides the facilities
for an equine activity, including, but not limited to: pony clubs; 4-H
clubs; field trial clubs; hunt clubs; riding clubs; classes or programs
sponsored by a school or college; therapeutic riding programs; and operators,instructors
and promoters of equine facilities at which equine activities are held,
including, but not limited to, stables, clubhouses, ponyride strings, fairs
and arenas.
6-A. Equine event. "Equine event" means an event in which an equine
activity occurs, including, but not limited to, fairs, competitions, performances
or parades that involve any breed of equine 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, 4-H events, Pony Club
events, rodeos, driving, pulling, cutting, reining, team penning, barrel
racing, polo, steeplechasing, endurance or nonendurance trail riding, English
and western performance riding, games, packing, recreational riding and
hunting.
7. Equine professional. "Equine professional" means a person engaged
for compensation:
A. In instructing a participant or renting to a participant
an equine for the purpose of riding, driving or being a passenger on the
equine;
B. In renting equipment or tack to a participant;
C. In providing daily care of equines boarded at an equine facility;
or
D. In training an equine.
7-A. Inherent risks of equine activities. "Inherent risks of equine
activities" means those dangers and conditions that 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 damages to property or injury, harm or death to persons on or
around the equine. Such equine behavior includes, but is not limited to,
bucking, shying, kicking, running, biting, stumbling, rearing, falling
and stepping on;
B. The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to such things as
sounds, sudden movements and unfamiliar objects, persons or other animals;
C. Certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions;
D. Collisions with other equines or objects; and
E. Unpredictable or erratic actions by others relating to equine
behavior.
8. Participant. "Participant" means a 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.
9. Spectator. "Spectator" means a person who is in the vicinity
of an equine activity but who is not a participant.
§ 4102
Boarding stables and commercial riding facilities; equine activities
(REPEALED).
§ 4103
Liability for equine activities (REPEALED).
§ 4103-A
Liability for equine activities.
1. Liability. Except as provided in subsection 2, an equine activity
sponsor, an equine professional or any other person engaged in an equine
activity is not liable for any property damage or damages arising from
the personal injury or death of a participant or spectator resulting from
the inherent risks of equine activities. Except as provided in subsection
2, a person may not make any claim or recover from any person for any property
damage or damages for personal injury or death resulting from the inherent
risks of equine activities. Each participant and spectator in an
equine activity expressly assumes the risk and legal responsibility for
any property damage or damages arising from personal injury or death that
results from the inherent risk of equine activities. Each participant has
the sole responsibility for knowing the range of that person's ability
to manage, care for and control a particular equine or perform a
particular equine activity. It is 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 warnings and to refrain from acting in a manner that
may cause or contribute to the injury of any person or damage to property.
2. Exceptions; participants. Nothing in subsection 1 prevents or
limits 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 the equipment or tack
was faulty to the extent that it did cause the injury;
B. 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 that was known or should
have been known to the equine activity sponsor, equine professional or
person;
C. Commits an act or omission that constitutes reckless disregard
for the safety of others and that act or omission caused the injury. For
the purposes of this section, "reckless" has the same meaning as "recklessly,"
defined in Title 17-A, section 35, subsection 3, paragraph A; or
D. Intentionally injures the participant.
3. Assumption of risk. In a personal injury action against an equine
professional, a defense or immunity described in subsection 1 may be asserted only
if the person injured in the course of an equine activity:
A. Had actual knowledge of the inherent risks of equine
activities;
B. Had professed to have sufficient knowledge or experience to be
on notice of the inherent risks; or
C. Had been notified of the inherent risks and the limitations of
liability.
For the purposes of this subsection, notice of the inherent risks of
equine activity may be satisfied either by a statement signed by the person
injured or by a sign or signs prominently displayed at the place where
the equine activity was initiated. The statement or sign must contain at
least the following information.
WARNING
Under Maine law, an equine professional has limited liability for
an injury or death resulting from the inherent risks of equine activities.
The message on a sign must be in black letters at least one inch
in height and the sign or signs must be placed in a clearly visible location
on or near stables, corrals or arenas where the equine professional conducts
equine activities.
4. Exceptions; persons who are not participants. Nothing in subsection
1 prevents or limits the liability of an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional
or any other person engaged in an equine activity, if that equine activity:
A. Causes injury or death to a person who is not a participant
and who is in a place where a reasonable person would not expect an equine
activity to occur; or
B. Causes injury or death to a spectator and that spectator was
in a place designated or intended by an activity sponsor as a place for
spectators.
§ 4104
Equine professional; contracts (REPEALED).
§ 4104-A
Equine professional; contracts (REPEALED).
