Lesson, Horse Rental or Lease, and Arena Use Release - Horse Equine Forms
North Carolina Equine
Activity Statutes
§ 99E-1
Definitions.
As used in this Article, the term:
(1) "Engage in an equine activity" means participate
in an equine activity, assist a participant in an equine activity, or assist
an equine activity sponsor or equine professional. The term "engage
in an equine activity" does not include being a spectator at an equine
activity, except in cases in which the spectator places himself in an unauthorized
area and in immediate proximity to the equine activity.
(2) "Equine" means a horse, pony, mule, donkey,
or hinny.
(3) "Equine activity" means any activity involving
an equine.
(4) "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual,
group, club, partnership, or corporation, whether the sponsor is operating
for profit or nonprofit, which sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities
for an equine activity. The term includes operators and promoters
of equine facilities.
(5) "Equine professional" means a person engaged
for compensation in any one or more of the following:
b. Renting an equine to a participant for the
purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger upon the equine.
(6) "Inherent risks of equine activities" means those dangers
or conditions that are an integral part of engaging in an equine activity,
including any of the following:
a. The possibility of an equine behaving
in ways that may result in injury, harm, or death to persons on or around
them.
b. The unpredictability of an equine's reaction
to such things as sounds, sudden movement, unfamiliar objects, persons,
or other animals. Inherent risks of equine activities does not include
a collision or accident involving a motor vehicle.
(7) "Participant" means 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.
§ 99E-2
Liability.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this
section, an equine activity sponsor, an equine professional, or any other
person engaged in an equine activity, including 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
subsection (b) of this section, no participant or participant's representative
shall maintain an action against or recover from an equine activity sponsor,
an equine professional, or any other person engaged in an equine activity
for injury, loss, damage, or death of the participant resulting exclusively
from any of the inherent risks of equine activities.
(b) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section
shall prevent or limit 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 engaged
in an equine activity does any one or more of the following:
(1) Provides the equipment or tack, and
knew or should have known that the equipment or tack was faulty, and such
faulty equipment or tack proximately caused the injury, damage, or death.
(2) Provides the equine and failed to make reasonable
and prudent efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the equine activity
or to safely manage the particular equine.
(3) Commits an act or omission that constitutes
willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant, and that
act or omission proximately caused the injury, damage, or death.
(4) Commits any other act of negligence or omission
that proximately caused the injury, damage, or death.
(c) Nothing in subsection (a) of this section shall
prevent or limit the liability of an equine activity sponsor, an
equine professional, or any other person engaged in an equine activity
under liability provisions as set forth in the products liability laws.
§ 99E-3
Warning required.
(a) Every equine professional and every equine
activity sponsor shall post and maintain signs which contain the warning
notice specified in subsection (b) of this section. The signs required
by this section shall be placed in a clearly visible location on or near
stables, corrals, or arenas where the equine professional or the equine
activity sponsor conducts equine activities. The warning notice specified
in subsection (b) of this section shall be designed by the Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services and shall consist of a 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
subsection (b) of this section.
(b) The signs and contracts described in subsection
(a) of this section shall contain the following warning notice:
"Under North Carolina 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 exclusively from the inherent risks of equine
activities. Chapter 99E of the North Carolina General Statutes."
(c) Failure to comply with the requirements concerning
warning signs and notices provided in this Article shall prevent an equine
activity sponsor or equine professional from invoking the privileges of
immunity provided by this Article.
