Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

The FL equine limited liability law is pretty clear. There is protection 
from the normal things that can happen - such as someone falling off a 
schooling horse that spooked when a car out front backfired. It requires 
that the riders understand the risk - that is what the waiver does. The 
sign a document that tells them the risk and that they are responsible 
for anything that happens because of the normal risk. It does, however, 
not protect against negligence. That is for example if a instructor is 
giving lessons using their tack and a saddle billet breaks and the rider 
falls off. If the billets were rotten it would be considered negligent 
and the instructor would not enjoy the protection of the law. The 
instructor would liable.

It seems the same concept applies to 2 below. Clearly no RM can 
eliminate every hazard. However, if there are known hazards, common 
sense tells you to somehow communicate to the riders that they are 
there. I've had my horse fall in a old gopher tortoise colony (they live 
in large borrows under ground). She fell on her side at an nice little 
canter. I went face first, slid in the sand (than goodness it was sand), 
broke my nose and separated my shoulder. It was on an old sand road that 
had used as a trail for years and no one knew of the hazard. That is one 
of the risk of riding and no one could realistically expect the RM to 
know about it - I sure didn't.

However, if a ride is routed through a area that was once row planted 
trees and there were a lot of holes hidden in the grass from rotting 
stumps the RM would most likely know it and if they did, IMO they should 
some how communicate that fact to the riders of the increased risk. If 
not I expect that would be consider negligent.

I must say in the SE ride managers go overboard to mark hazards. They 
will even go out during the ride and mark one they didn't know about if 
a rider brings it to their attention. They have spotters at road 
crossings if there is any chance of traffic- especially when at the 
beginning when the horses are bunched together and can be pretty hyper.

I think it all comes down to common sense. If there is a know hazard 
that might not be detected by riders in time to prevent injury from the 
hazard and the ride manager knows it - it should be communicated to the 
riders and the best way is to mark it. Not to do so might open the RM up 
to being determined to have been negligent in which case at least in FL 
the equine limited liability law is no longer in effect.

There is a lot of difference between accidents that happen because of 
the inherent risk of riding a horse and accidents that happen because 
the rider is not informed about known hazards that might not be readily 
visible until he/she is put at an unnecessary unacceptable level of 
risk. Of course there a lot of words above that have a range of meanings 
- but that's why we have lawyers ;-) .

Truman

Beth Walker wrote:
> 1) The rider that brings suit for what most people knowledgeable in 
> endurance would not consider to be a valid reason, especially if that 
> rider actually precipitated the events by their actions.
>
> 2) The rider that brings suit for what can legitimately be called a 
> good reason: a known danger that was not addressed, etc.
>
> There seem to be some various opinions, some of which seemed to be on 
> the extreme end of things, i.e., No rider has the right to bring a 
> suit against RMs or vets. You signed a waiver, so tough. If you bring 
> a suit anyway, we can ban you from future rides.
>
> That position does not address #2. It makes the assumption that Ride 
> Management is never, and could never, be in the wrong, and riding 
> horses is risky anyway, so management is never liable. It is that 
> extreme position that I do not agree with.


--

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


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