(1) “Equine” means a horse, pony, mule, donkey, hinny, zebra, zebra hybrid, or alpaca.
(b) “Equine activity” does not include horse or mule racing.
(f)Conducting procedures or assisting in conducting procedures necessary to breed an equine by means of artificial insemination or otherwise.
(6) “Harm” means injury, death, or loss to person or property.
(8) “Person” has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the Revised Code and additionally includes governmental entities.
(9) “Tort action” means a civil action for damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property. “Tort action” does not include a civil action for damages for a breach of contract or another agreement between persons.
(10) “Veterinarian” means a person who is licensed to practice veterinary medicine in this state pursuant to Chapter 4741. of the Revised Code.
(b) An equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person provides an equine to an equine activity participant and fails to make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the equine activity participant’s ability to safely engage in the equine activity or to safely manage the equine based on the equine activity participant’s representations of the participant’s ability, the equine activity participant fails to safely engage in the equine activity or to safely manage the equine, and that failure proximately causes the harm involved.
(C)(1)Notwithstanding the immunity conferred by division (B)(1) of this section and the grounds for its forfeiture specified in division (B)(2) of this section, subject to divisions (C)(2) (b) and (3) of this section, an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person is not liable in damages in a tort or other civil action for harm that an equine activity participant allegedly sustains during an equine activity and that results from an inherent risk of an equine activity if that equine activity participant or a parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of that equine activity participant voluntarily executes, prior to the occurrence of the harm involved, a written waiver as described in division (C)(2) of this section. Subject to divisions (C)(2) (b) and (C)(3) of this section, the equine activity participant who is the subject of that waiver or the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine activity participant who is the subject of that waiver does not have a claim or cause of action upon which a recovery of damages may be based against, and may not recover damages in a tort or other civil action against, an equine activity sponsor, another equine activity participant, an equine professional, a veterinarian, a farrier, or another person in whose favor the waiver was executed.
(2)(a) A valid waiver for purposes of division (C)(1) of this section shall be in writing and subscribed by the equine activity participant or the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine activity participant, and shall specify at least each inherent risk of an equine activity that is listed in divisions (A)(7) (a) to (e) of this section and that will be a subject of the waiver of tort or other civil liability.
(b) A waiver in the form described in division (C)(2) (a) of this section shall remain valid until it is revoked in the manner described in division (C)(3) of this section. Unless so revoked, such a waiver that pertains to equine activities sponsored by a school, college, or university shall apply to all equine activities in which the equine activity participant who is the subject of the waiver is involved during the twelve-month period following the execution of the waiver.
(3)A valid waiver in the form described in division (C)(2) (a) of this section may be revoked in writing by the equine activity participant or the parent, guardian, custodian, or other legal representative of the equine activity participant who executed the waiver. The revocation of the waiver does not affect the availability of the immunity conferred by division (B)(1) of this section.
(D)(1)This section does not create a new cause of action or substantive legal right against an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person.
(2)This section does not affect the availability in appropriate circumstances of a civil action based on a product liability claim under sections 2307.71 to 2307.801 of the Revised Code.
Section 2305.321 of the Revised Code, as enacted by this act, shall apply only to harm that an equine activity participant sustains as a proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine activity that occurs on or after the effective date of this act. The tort or other civil liability of, and the defenses available to and any immunities from liability of, an equine activity sponsor, equine activity participant, equine professional, veterinarian, farrier, or other person for harm that an equine activity participant sustained as a proximate result of an inherent risk of an equine activity that occurred prior to the effective date of this act shall be determined as if section 2305.40 of the Revised Code had not been enacted by this act.