Lesson, Horse Rental or Lease, and Arena Use Release - Horse Equine Forms
691.1661
Short title.
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "equine
activity liability act".
691.1662
Definitions.
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Engage in an equine activity" means riding, training, driving,
breeding, being a passenger upon, or providing or assisting in veterinary
treatment of an equine, whether mounted or unmounted. Engage in an equine
activity includes visiting, touring, or utilizing an equine facility as
part of an organized event or activity including the breeding of equines,
or assisting a participant or show management. Engage in equine activity
does not include spectating at an equine activity, unless the spectator
places himself or herself in an unauthorized area and in immediate proximity
to the equine activity.
(b) "Equine" means horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny.
(c) "Equine activity" means any of the following:
(i) An equine show, fair, competition, performance, or parade
including, but not limited to, dressage, a hunter and jumper horse show,
grand prix jumping, a 3-day event, combined training, a rodeo, riding,
driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeplechasing, English and western performance
riding, endurance trail riding, gymkhana games, and hunting.
(ii) Equine training or teaching activities.
(iii) Boarding equines, including their normal daily care.
(iv) Breeding equines, including the normal daily care and activities
associated with breeding equines.
(v) Riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to
another, whether or not the owner receives monetary consideration or another
thing of value for the use of the equine or is permitting a prospective
purchaser of the equine or an agent to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine.
(vi) A ride, trip, hunt, or other activity, however informal or
impromptu, that is sponsored by an equine activity sponsor.
(vii) Placing or replacing a horseshoe on or hoof trimming of
an equine.
(d) "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual, group, club,
partnership, or corporation, whether or not operating for profit, that
sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities for an equine activity,
including, but not limited to, a pony club; 4-H club; hunt club; riding
club; school- or college-sponsored class, program, or activity; therapeutic
riding program; stable or farm owner; and operator, instructor, or promoter
of an equine facility including, but not limited to, a stable, clubhouse,
ponyride string, fair, or arena at which the equine activity is held.
(e) "Equine professional" means a person engaged in any of the
following for compensation:
(i) Instructing a participant in an equine activity.
(ii) Renting an equine, equipment, or tack to a participant.
(iii) Providing daily care of horses boarded at an equine facility.
(iv) Training an equine.
(v) Breeding of equines for resale or stock replenishment.
(f) "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:
(i) An equine's propensity to behave in ways that may result
in injury, harm, or death to a person on or around it.
(ii) The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to things
such as sounds, sudden movement, and people, other animals, or unfamiliar
objects.
(iii) A hazard such as a surface or subsurface condition.
(iv) Colliding with another equine or object.
(g) "Participant" means an individual, whether amateur or professional,
engaged in an equine activity, whether or not a fee is paid to participate.
691.1663
Injury, death, or property damage; liability.
Sec. 3. Except as otherwise provided in section 5, an equine activity
sponsor, an equine professional, or another person is not liable for an
injury to or the death of a participant or property damage resulting from
an inherent risk of an equine activity. Except as otherwise provided in
section 5, a participant or participant's representative shall not make
a claim for, or recover, civil damages from an equine activity sponsor,
an equine professional, or another person for injury to or the death of
the participant or property damage resulting from an inherent risk of an
equine activity.
691.1664
Liability; exception; waiver.
Sec. 4. (1) This act does not apply to a horse race meeting that
is regulated by the racing law of 1980, Act No. 327 of the Public Acts
of 1980, being sections 431.61 to 431.88 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.
(2) Two persons may agree in writing to a waiver of liability
beyond the provisions of this act and such waiver shall be valid and binding
by its terms.
691.1665
Liability not prevented or limited; conditions.
Sec. 5. Section 3 does not prevent or limit the liability of an
equine activity sponsor, equine professional, or another person if the
equine activity sponsor, equine professional, or other person does any
of the following:
(a) Provides equipment or tack and knows or should know
that the equipment or tack is faulty, and the equipment or tack is faulty
to the extent that it is a proximate cause of the injury, death, or damage.
(b) Provides an equine and fails to make reasonable and prudent
efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in
the equine activity and to determine the ability of the participant to
safely manage the particular equine. A person shall not rely upon a participant's
representations of his or her ability unless these representations are
supported by reasonably sufficient detail.
(c) Owns, leases, rents, has authorized use of, or otherwise is
in lawful possession and control of land or facilities on which the participant
sustained injury because of a dangerous latent condition of the land or
facilities that is known to the equine activity sponsor, equine professional,
or other person and for which warning signs are not conspicuously posted.
(d) Commits a negligent act or omission that constitutes a proximate
cause of the injury, death, or damage.
691.1666
Notice; posting and maintenance of signs; contract; contents
of notice.
Sec. 6. (1) An equine professional shall post and maintain signs
that contain the warning notice set forth in subsection (3). The signs
shall be placed in a clearly visible location in close proximity to the
equine activity. The warning notice shall appear on the sign in conspicuous
letters no less than 1 inch in height.
(2) A written contract entered into by an equine professional
for providing professional services, instruction, or rental of equipment,
tack, or an equine to a participant, whether or not the contract involves
an equine activity on or off the location or site of the equine professional's
business, shall contain in clearly readable print the warning notice set
forth in subsection (3).
(3) A sign or contract described in this section shall contain
substantially the following warning notice:
WARNING
Under the Michigan equine activity liability act, an equine professional
is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant in an equine
activity resulting from an inherent risk of the equine activity.
691.1667
Applicability of act.
Sec. 7. This act applies only to a cause of action filed on or after
the effective date of this act.
