West Virginia § 20-4-4 Duties of participants

West Virginia Statutes

§ 20-4-4 — Duties of participants

West Virginia § 20-4-4

Ch. 20NATURAL RESOURCES

Art. 4EQUESTRIAN ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBILITY ACT

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Bluebook

W. Va. Code § 20-4-4 (2026).

Text

It is recognized that equestrian activities are hazardous to participants, regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken.

Each participant in an equestrian activity expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person or property which results from participation in an equestrian activity. Each participant shall have the sole individual responsibility for knowing the range of his or her own ability to manage, care for, and control a particular horse or perform a particular equestrian activity, and it shall be the duty of each participant to act within the limits of the participant's own ability, to maintain reasonable control of the particular horse or horses at all times while participating in an equestrian activity, to heed all p

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It is recognized that equestrian activities are hazardous to participants, regardless of all feasible safety measures which can be taken.

Each participant in an equestrian activity expressly assumes the risk of and legal responsibility for any injury, loss or damage to person or property which results from participation in an equestrian activity. Each participant shall have the sole individual responsibility for knowing the range of his or her own ability to manage, care for, and control a particular horse or perform a particular equestrian activity, and it shall be the duty of each participant to act within the limits of the participant's own ability, to maintain reasonable control of the particular horse or horses at all times while participating in an equestrian activity, to heed all posted warnings, to perform equestrian activities only in an area or in facilities designated by the horseman and to refrain from acting in a manner which may cause or contribute to the injury of anyone. If while actually riding in an equestrian event, any participant collides with any object or person, except an obviously intoxicated person of whom the horseman is aware, or if the participant falls from the horse or from a horse-drawn conveyance, the responsibility for such collision or fall shall be solely that of the participant or participants involved and not that of the horseman.

A participant involved in an accident shall not depart from the area or facility where the equestrian activity took place without leaving personal identification, including name and address, or without notifying the proper authorities, or without obtaining assistance when that person knows or reasonably should know that any other person involved in the accident is in need of medical or other assistance.