Equine Law Blog
Julie Fershtman is the speaker for tomorrow's webinar through the Certified Horsemanship Association entitled: "Risk Management – What You Need to Know about Liability, Contracts and Releases."
State equine activity liability laws generally, but not always, apply to equine activity "participants" who are “engaged in an equine activity” at the time of injury. Over the years, cases have addressed whether people injured on the grounds of an equine activity qualify as “participants.” Let’s take a look at two noteworthy cases addressing the issue and find out whether you agree with the courts.
A caller years ago, had a difficult legal problem. He recently bought a home and surrounding land, converted a back yard work shop into a horse stall, set up new pasture fencing and moved in his horse. His life-long dream of owning a horse property within his budget, he thought, had just been realized.
Within weeks, however, his dream seemed to shatter when he received a notice from the municipality that his horse and fencing had to go. What he had not known, until that point, is that his municipality’s zoning ordinances included set-back restrictions for fencing. The ordinance required that his fence lines be within a substantial distance from his property line. Unfortunately for him, his lot was very narrow and compliance with the ordinance would make his horse pasture the size of a dog run.
