Release of Liability Owner Rider - Horse Equine Forms
Ohio Equine Activity Statutes
§ 2305.321
Immunity as to equine activity risks.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, hinny, zebra, zebra
hybrid, or alpaca.
(i) An equine show, fair, competition, performance, or
parade that involves an equine and an equine discipline, including, but
not limited to, dressage, a hunter and jumper show, grand prix jumping,
a three-day event, combined training, a rodeo, driving, pulling, cutting,
reining, team penning, barrel racing, polo, steeplechasing, english or
western performance riding, endurance or nonendurance trail riding, western
games, hunting, packing, and recreational riding;
(ii) An equine or rider training, teaching, instructing, testing,
or evaluating activity, including, but not limited to, a clinic, seminar,
or symposium;
(v) The riding, inspecting, or evaluating of an equine owned by
another person, regardless of whether the owner has received anything of
value for the use of the equine or is permitting a prospective purchaser
of the equine to ride, inspect, or evaluate it;
(vi) A ride, trip, hunt, branding, roundup, cattle drive, or other
activity that involves an equine and that is sponsored by an equine activity
sponsor, regardless of whether the activity is formal, informal, planned,
or impromptu;
(3) "Equine activity participant" means a person who engages in
any of the following activities, regardless of whether the person is an
amateur or a professional or whether a fee is paid to participate in the
particular activity:
(a) Riding, training, driving, or controlling in any manner
an equine, whether the equine is mounted or unmounted;
(e) Assisting a person who is engaged in an activity described in
division (A)(3)(a), (b), (c), or (d) of this section;
(a) A person who, for profit or not for profit, sponsors,
organizes, or provides a facility for an equine activity, including, but
not limited to, a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club, or therapeutic
riding program, or a class, program, or activity that is sponsored by a
school, college, or university;
(b) An operator or promoter of, or an instructor at, an equine facility,
such as a stable, clubhouse, pony ride, fair, training facility, show ground,
or arena at which an equine activity is held.
(5) "Equine professional" means a person who engages for compensation
in any of the following activities:
(a) Training, teaching, instructing, testing, or evaluating
an equine or an equine activity participant;
(6) "Harm" means injury, death, or loss to person or property.
(7) "Inherent risk of an equine activity" means a danger or condition
that is an integral part of an equine activity, including, but not limited
to, any of the following:
(b) The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to sounds, sudden
movement, unfamiliar objects, persons, or other animals;
(e) The potential of an equine activity participant to act in a
negligent manner that may contribute to injury, death, or loss to the person
of the participant or to other persons, including, but not limited to,
failing to maintain control over an equine or failing to act within the
ability of the participant.
(8) "Person" has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the Revised
Code and additionally includes governmental entities.
(9) "Tort action" means a civil action for damages for injury, death,
or loss to person or property. "Tort action" does not include a civil action
for damages for a breach of contract or another agreement between persons.
(10) "Veterinarian" means a person who is licensed to practice veterinary
medicine in this state pursuant to Chapter 4741. of the Revised Code.
(B) (1) Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section and
subject to division (C) of this section, an equine activity sponsor, equine
activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other
person is not liable in damages in a tort or other civil action for harm
that an equine activity participant allegedly sustains during an equine
activity and that results from an inherent risk of an equine activity.
Except as provided in division (B)(2) of this section and subject to division
(C) of this section, an equine activity participant or the personal representative
of an equine activity participant does not have a claim or cause of action
upon which a recovery of damages may be based against, and may not recover
damages in a tort or other civil action against, an equine activity sponsor,
another equine activity participant, an equine professional, a veterinarian,
a farrier, or another person for harm that the equine activity participant
allegedly sustained during an equine activity and that resulted from an
inherent risk of an equine activity.
(2) The immunity from tort or other civil liability conferred by
division (B)(1) of this section is forfeited if any of the following circumstances
applies:
(a) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant,
equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person provides to
an equine activity participant faulty or defective equipment or tack and
knows or should know that the equipment or tack is faulty or defective,
and the fault or defect in the equipment or tack proximately causes the
harm involved.
(b) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine
professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person provides an equine
to an equine activity participant and fails to make reasonable and prudent
efforts to determine the equine activity participant's ability to safely
engage in the equine activity or to safely manage the equine based on the
equine activity participant's representations of the participant's ability,
the equine activity participant fails to safely engage in the equine activity
or to safely manage the equine, and that failure proximately causes the
harm involved.
(c) The harm involved is proximately caused by a dangerous latent
condition of the land on which or the premises at which the harm occurs,
an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person owns, leases, rents, or otherwise
lawfully possesses and controls the land or premises and knows or should
know of the dangerous latent condition, but does not post conspicuously
prior to the time of the harm involved one or more signs that warn of the
dangerous latent condition.
(d) An act or omission of an equine activity sponsor, equine activity
participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person
constitutes a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of an equine activity
participant and proximately causes the harm involved.
(e) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine
professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person intentionally causes
the harm involved.
(C) (1) Notwithstanding the immunity conferred by division (B)(1) of
this section and the grounds for its forfeiture specified in division (B)(2)
of this section, subject to divisions (C)(2)(b) and (3) of this section,
an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person is not liable in damages in a tort
or other civil action for harm that an equine activity participant allegedly
sustains during an equine activity and that results from an inherent risk
of an equine activity if that equine activity participant or a parent,
guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of that equine activity
participant voluntarily executes, prior to the occurrence of the harm involved,
a written waiver as described in division (C)(2) of this section. Subject
to divisions (C)(2)(b) and (C)(3) of this section, the equine activity
participant who is the subject of that waiver or the parent, guardian,
custodian, or other legal representative of the equine activity participant
who is the subject of that waiver does not have a claim or cause of action
upon which a recovery of damages may be based against, and may not recover
damages in a tort or other civil action against, an equine activity sponsor,
another equine activity participant, an equine professional, a veterinarian,
a farrier, or another person in whose favor the waiver was executed.
(2) (a) A valid waiver for purposes of division (C)(1) of this section
shall be in writing and subscribed by the equine activity participant or
the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine
activity participant, and shall specify at least each inherent risk of
an equine activity that is listed in divisions (A)(7)(a) to (e) of this
section and that will be a subject of the waiver of tort or other civil
liability.
(b) A waiver in the form described in division (C)(2)(a) of this
section shall remain valid until it is revoked in the manner described
in division (C)(3) of this section. Unless so revoked, such a waiver that
pertains to equine activities sponsored by a school, college, or university
shall apply to all equine activities in which the equine activity participant
who is the subject of the waiver is involved during the twelve-month period
following the execution of the waiver.
(3) A valid waiver in the form described in division (C)(2)(a) of
this section may be revoked in writing by the equine activity participant
or the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the
equine activity participant who executed the waiver. The revocation of
the waiver does not affect the availability of the immunity conferred by
division (B)(1) of this section.
(D) (1) This section does not create a new cause of action or substantive
legal right against an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant,
equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person.
(2) This section does not affect the availability in appropriate
circumstances of a civil action based on a product liability claim under
sections 2307.71 to 2307.801 [2307.80.1] of the Revised Code.
* This section was originally enacted in HB 564 (146 v --),
effective 3-3-97 as RC § 2305.40.
SECTION 2. Section 2305.40 of the Revised Code, as enacted by this
act, shall apply only to harm that an equine activity participant sustains
as a proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine activity that occurs
on or after the effective date of this act. The tort or other civil liability
of, and the defenses available to and any immunities from liability of,
an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional,
veterinarian, farrier, or other person for harm that an equine activity
participant sustained as a proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine
activity that occurred prior to the effective date of this act shall be
determined as if section 2305.40 of the Revised Code had not been enacted
by this act.
