2023 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 47 - Animals, Livestock and Poultry
Chapter 9 - Livestock Generally
Section 47-9-710. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Engages in an equine activity" means riding, training, providing, or assisting in providing medical treatment of, driving, or being a passenger upon an equine, mounted or unmounted, or a person assisting a participant or show management. It does not include being a spectator at an equine activity, except in cases where the spectator places himself 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) an equine show, fair, competition, performance, parade, or trail riding that involves a breed of equine and an equine discipline, 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, 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 the owner has received monetary consideration or another 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) a ride, trip, hunt, or other equine activity, however informal or impromptu, that is sponsored by an equine activity sponsor;

(f) placing or replacing a horseshoe on an equine;

(g) examining or administering medical treatment to an equine by a veterinarian.

(4) "Equine activity sponsor" means an individual, a group, a club, a partnership, or a corporation, whether the sponsor is operating for profit or nonprofit, which 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 and college-sponsored class, program, and activity, therapeutic riding program, and an operator, instructor, and promoter of an equine facility, including, but not limited to, a stable, clubhouse, ponyride string, fair, and an arena at which the activity is held or a landowner who has given permission for the use of his land in an equine activity either by easement or other means.

(5) "Equine professional" means a person engaged for compensation in:

(a) instructing a participant or renting to a participant an equine for the purpose of riding, driving, or being a passenger upon the equine;

(b) renting equipment or tack to a participant; or

(c) examining or administering medical treatment to an equine as a veterinarian.

(6) "Inherent risk of equine activity" 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 a person on or around the equine;

(b) the unpredictability of an equine's reaction to sound, sudden movement, an unfamiliar object, a person, or another animal;

(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, as failing to maintain control over the animal or not acting within the participant's ability.

(7) "Participant" means a person, amateur or professional, who engages in an equine activity, whether or not a fee is paid to participate in the equine activity.

HISTORY: 1993 Act No. 182, Section 1, eff July 1, 1993, and applies only to causes of action arising on or after this act's effective date; 2012 Act No. 142, Sections 1, 2, eff April 2, 2012.