Release of Liability Owner Rider - Horse Equine Forms
537.325.1
Definitions--liability for equine activities, limitations, exceptions--signs
required, contents.
1. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires,
the following words and phrases shall mean:
(1) "Engages in an equine activity", riding, training,
assisting in medical treatment of, driving or being a passenger upon an
equine, whether mounted or unmounted, or any person assisting a participant
or any person involved in show management. The term "engages in an equine
activity" does not include being a spectator at an equine activity, except
in cases where the spectator places himself in an unauthorized area;
(2) "Equine", a horse, pony, mule, donkey or hinny;
(3) "Equine activity":
(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;
and
(f) Placing or replacing horseshoes on an equine;
(4) "Equine activity sponsor", an individual, group, club, partnership
or corporation, whether or not operating for profit or nonprofit, or any
employee thereof, 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, pony ride strings, fairs and arenas at which the activity is
held;
(5) "Equine professional", a person engaged for compensation, or
an employee of such a person engaged:
(a) In instructing a participant or renting to a participant
an equine for the purpose of riding, driving or being a passenger upon
the equine; or
(b) In renting equipment or tack to a participant;
(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 any equine to behave in ways that
may result in injury, harm or death to persons on or around it**;
(b) The unpredictability of any equine's reaction to such things
as 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 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.
2. Except as provided in subsection 4 of this section, an equine activity
sponsor, an equine professional or any other person or corporation 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
subsection 4 of this section, no participant or a participant's representative
shall make any claim against, maintain an action against, or recover from
an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other person
from injury, loss, damage or death of the participant resulting from any
of the inherent risks of equine activities.
3. This section shall not apply to the horse racing industry as
regulated in sections 313.050 to 313.720, RSMo. This section shall not
apply to any employer-employee relationship governed by the provisions
of, and for which liability is established pursuant to, chapter 287, RSMo.
4. The provisions of subsection 2 of this section shall not 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:
(1) 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
(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 and determine the ability of the participant to safely
manage the particular equine based on the participant's age, obvious physical
condition or the participant's representations of his ability;
(3) 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;
(4) 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;
(5) Intentionally injures the participant;
(6) Fails to use that degree of care that an ordinarily careful
and prudent person would use under the same or similar circumstances.
5. The provisions of subsection 2 of this section shall not prevent
or limit the liability of an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional
under liability provisions as set forth in any other section of law.
6. Every equine activity sponsor shall post and maintain signs which
contain the warning notice specified in this subsection. Such signs shall
be placed in a clearly visible location on or near stables, corrals or
arenas where the equine professional conducts equine activities if such
stables, corrals or arenas are owned, managed or controlled by the equine
professional. The warning notice specified in this subsection shall appear
on the sign in black letters on a white background with each letter to
be a minimum of one inch in height. Every written contract entered into
by an equine professional and 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 equine activity sponsor's business, shall contain in clearly readable
print the warning notice specified in this subsection. The signs and contracts
described in this subsection shall contain the following warning notice:
WARNING
Under Missouri law, an 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 Revised Statutes
of Missouri.
(L. 1994 S.B. 457)
