2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 32 - Sports and Parks
Chapter 10 - Equine Activity Limitation on Liability
§ 181. Definitions
- For the purposes of this chapter and unless the context requires a different meaning:
(a) “Engage in an equine activity” means riding, training, driving, breeding, being a passenger upon, or providing or assisting in veterinary treatment of an equine, whether mounted or unmounted. “Engage in an equine activity” includes conducting or engaging in live horse racing and the handling and stabling of race horses visiting, touring, or utilizing an equine facility as part of an organized event or activity including the breeding of equines, or assisting a participant or show management.
(b) “Equine” means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny.
(c) “Equine activity” means any of the following:
(1) An equine show, fair, competition, race performance, or parade, including a hunter and jumper horse shows grand prix jumping, a 3-day event combined training, a rodeo, riding, driving, pulling, cutting, polo, steeple chasing, English and western performance riding, endurance trail riding, gymkhana games, and hunting;
(2) Equine training or teaching activities;
(3) Boarding equines, including their normal daily care;
(4) Breeding equines, including the normal daily care and activities associated with breeding equines;
(5) Riding, inspecting, or evaluating an equine belonging to another, whether or not the owner receives monetary consideration or another thing of value for the use of the equine, or permitting a prospective purchaser of the equine or an agent to ride, inspect, or evaluate the equine;
(6) A ride, trip, hunt, or other activity, however informal or impromptu, that is sponsored by an equine activity sponsor; or
(7) Placing or replacing a horseshoe on or hoof trimming of an equine.
(d) “Equine activity sponsor” means an individual, group, club, partnership, or corporation, whether or not operating for profit, that sponsors, organizes, or provides the facilities for an equine activity, including, a pony club, 4-H club, hunt club, riding club, school or college-sponsored class, program, or activity, therapeutic riding program, stable or farm owner, and operator, instructor, or promoter of an equine facility, including, a stable, clubhouse, pony ride string, fair, or arena at which the equine activity held.
(e) “Equine professional” means a person engaged in any of the following:
(1) Instructing a participant in an equine activity;
(2) Renting an equine, equipment, or tack to a participant;
(3) Providing daily care of horses boarded at an equine facility;
(4) Training an equine;
(5) Breeding of equines for resale or stock replenishment;
(6) Examining or administering medical treatment to an equine as a veterinarian;
(7) Regulating, overseeing, or conducting an equine activity; and
(8) Transporting equines.
(f) “Inherent risk of an equine activity” means a danger or condition that is an integral part of an equine activity, including, any of the following:
(1) An equine's propensity to behave in ways that may result in injury, harm, or death to a person on or around it;
(2) The unpredictability of an equine's reaction to things such as sounds, sudden movement, and people, other animals, or unfamiliar objects;
(3) A hazard such as a surface or subsurface condition;
(4) Colliding with another equine or object;
(5) Injury to a person, property, or equine as a result of the actions of an equine; or
(6) Injury to an equine, including sickness relating to transmission of disease arising from proximity to other equines.
(g) “Other person” means any employee or agent of an equine activity sponsor or equine professional or any person other than an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional, who assists with providing an equine activity.
(h) “Participant” means an individual, whether amateur or professional, engaged in an equine activity, whether or not a fee is paid to participate.
