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DELAWARE CODE
TITLE 10. COURTS AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART V. LIMITATION OF ACTIONS
CHAPTER 81. PERSONAL ACTIONS
§ 8140 Liability of persons involved in equine activities.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed
herein:
(1)a. "Engages in an equine activity" means 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 show management.
b. "Engages in an equine activity" does not include being a
spectator at an equine activity, except in cases where the spectator places such
spectator's person 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:
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" means an individual, group, club, partnership or corporation, whether or not the sponsor is operating for profit or nonprofit, 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, ponyride strings, fairs and arenas at which the activity is held;
(5) "Equine professional" means a person engaged for compensation:
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" means those dangers or conditions which are an integral part of equine activities, including, but not limited to:
a. The propensity of an equine to behave 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 movements, and unfamiliar objects, persons or other animals;
c. Certain hazards such as surface and subsurface conditions;
d. Collisions with other equines or objects; and
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 the participant's ability;
(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.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, an equine
activity sponsor, an equine professional or any other person, which shall include 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. Except as provided in
subsection (c) of this section, no participant or 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 for injury, loss, damage or death of the
participant resulting from any
of the inherent risks of equine activities.
(c)(1) This section shall not apply to the horse racing industry as
regulated in Title 3.
(2) Nothing in subsection (b) of this section shall 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:
a.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 representations of the participant's ability;
b. 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 or should have been known to the equine
activity sponsor, equine professional or person and for which warning signs have not been
conspicuously posted;
c. 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; or
d. Intentionally injures the participant.
(3) Nothing in subsection (b) of this section shall prevent or limit the liability of an
equine activity sponsor or an equine professional under either product liability or
trespass claims.
(d)(1) Every equine professional shall post and maintain signs which
contain the warning notice specified in paragraph (2) of this subsection. Such signs shall
be placed in clearly visible locations 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
paragraph (2) of this section shall appear on the sign in red and white, with each letter
to be a minimum of 1 inch in height. Every written contract entered into by an equine
professional 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 business, shall contain in clearly readable print the warning notice
specified in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(2) The signs and contracts described in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall contain the following warning notice:
WARNING
Under Delaware 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 10 Delaware Code § 8140.
Enacted in 1995.
Reviewed by AAHS in March 2001.
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