(A) An equine professional and an equine activity sponsor shall post and maintain signs which contain the warning notice specified in subsection (B). These signs must be placed in a clearly visible location on or near stables, corrals, or arenas where the equine professional or the equine activity sponsor conducts equine activities or once at the primary entrance to any riding trail maintained or operated by the activity sponsor. The warning notice specified in subsection (B) must appear on the sign in black letters with each letter a minimum of one inch in height. A written contract entered into by an equine professional or by an equine activity sponsor to provide professional services, instruction, or rental of equipment, tack, or an equine to a participant, whether or not the contract involves equine activities on or off the location or site of the business of the equine professional or the equine activity sponsor, must contain in clearly readable print the warning notice specified in subsection (B).

(B) A sign and contract described in subsection (A) must contain the following warning notice:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 47-9-730

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Equine: means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, or hinny. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
  • 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. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
  • 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. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
  • 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. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
  • 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. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710
  • 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. See South Carolina Code 47-9-710

WARNING

Under South Carolina law, an equine activity sponsor or equine professional is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant in an equine activity resulting from an inherent risk of equine activity, pursuant to Article 7, Chapter 9 of Title 47, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976.

(C) Failure to comply with the requirements concerning warning signs and notices provided in this section prevents an equine activity sponsor or equine professional from invoking the privileges of immunity provided by this article.

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