What
Creates Liability for Equine Professionals?
Quiz
1.
Which of the following would be most
likely to create liability for you as a riding instructor?
a.
A school horse with no history of
refusals screeches to a halt in front of a big oxer,
and his rider falls off and hits the jump standard.
b.
During a group lesson, one of your
horses throws a shoe. The horse behind
him on the circle steps on the thrown shoe, trips and falls to his knees. His rider falls off and the horse
accidentally rolls on her.
c.
To cut costs, you start buying your
school horse tack at Cheapskate Ranch Supply.
During a novice jumping lesson, you instruct your students to grab the
martingale strap for balance instead of the horse’s mouth. One student grabs the martingale strap a
little too hard and the martingale gives way.
Inspired by his sudden freedom, the school horse lets off a little buck
and the student falls off. Upon closer
examination, you discover that the martingale is thin “pleather”
rather than sturdy leather.
d.
You are giving a lunge line lesson to a
small child in your covered arena.
During the lesson, the manure removal service makes an unscheduled
pickup. The squeal of the hydraulics
spooks your normally steady lesson horse and the child falls off, breaking his
collarbone.
2.
As the operator of a stallion station,
you contract with stallion owners for collection and semen processing, and with
mare owners for insemination and foaling out.
In a few sentences, describe what your duties of care are and to whom
they are owed.
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3.
As Big Thang,
you receive a lot of offers to take horses in for training. You have a lot of experience training Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure horses. A client asks you to train her horse for
Pleasure Driving, and you agree. After
all, a lot of your competition in the training world is doing it, and their
horses are winning. You watch a couple
of videos, buy a cart and harness and hitch up.
Your client’s horse flips over backwards, breaking her withers. Your client blames you and alleges that you
were negligent for taking on a training project that you weren’t prepared
for. You contend that your client’s
horse freaking out was just one of the risks of training a horse to pull a
cart. Who has a better legal position,
you or your client?_______________________________________________________________