am I responsible

If someone comes to my house to ride one of my horses and they get injuried, am I responsible for they injuries? I have a girl down the road wanting to come by and ride(she is experienced with horses)but I am concerned with her getting injuried, she is riding my arabian and he is very spooky and has taken off with her before, she just jumped off him and she was ok. But I was just wondering.

If she has not signed a liability release waiver, then yes.

You can download these online, and it will only take her 30 seconds to sign it!

Yes, you can be held liable. I would advise you to have her sign an injury waiver so that she cannot blame you or your horse. Or, another option is to post a "Ride at your own risk. Not responsible for injuries" sign in a very visible place at the barn or wherever you have your horse. I am not sure that it would cover you 100% but I think it is better than nothing. I would check with a local lawyer or with the courthouse.

what website?

I do have a sign cant remember exactly what is says, something like, it is one that i picked up from tsc and it says any person involved in equine activities owner not responsible for any injuries or the death of people involved,fla. statue blah blah blah, I'm not sure exactly what it says but something in those terms.So I still need the form?

I would go ahead and get the form just to cover all your bases. Better safe than sorry. :)

In Florida yes, I would have her sign a waiver.

Another reason I love Colorado. Colorado law states that if you enter property that contains horses and get injured, the owner of the property/horses is not held liable.

That's crazy. Definitely not how it is here in New York.

Yes, you still always want a signed form in addition to posting your state's equine liability statute. If the person is a minor, make sure the parents/legal guardian sign.

And remember...equine libaility statutes generally refer to/cover the inherent risks associated with horses, not things that are considered negligance. If you are providing the tack and/or tacking up the horse, you can still be responsible if there is an injury due to worn, defective, or improperly adjusted tack. You generally also have a responsibility to understand the riding ability/experience of the person and properly match that with a horse, i.e. if you know the person is a beginner and you let them ride a green broke horse, you could be considered negligant. To this end, most liability forms that I've seen from stables require the person to specify their experience level, years riding, height/weight/etc..have any information that you would use to match a horse and rider in writing and signed. If the person is experienced, let them examine the tack and tack the horse. Additionally, require a helmet, or (again) have a helmet/no helmet statement on the signed form.

Finally, a lawyer once advised me that horse owners are very proud of their horses and always tend to say things like 'my horse would never buck/rear/etc.' and that these types of statements should be avoided, i.e. don't say anything that would imply future behavior based on the past.

The more you have in writing, the better, and always keep in mind that, if you are sued, just defending yourself can be expensive, even if you win.

I know that all sounds like 'overkill'. The 'good' side is that we let friends ride our mares all the time and have never had a problem.

Not sure how the laws are, but you should always get a waiver signed. However, here in Michigan, the laws are written so that you may not be able to get sued by the person getting hurt, but there is no way to avoid being sued by ANY member of their family if they get hurt - waiver or no. A nasty little loophole that friends of mine found out about while they were trying to run a little 'rent-a-horse' business. Perfectly calm pony dumped an obnoxious girl from Chicago, she didn't get seriously injured, but did sprain her wrist. The one parent who signed the form couldn't sue, but the father who wasn't present, could. Another lawsuit involved an Aunt suing. Whatever you do, just be careful.