The State of Oklahoma has determined it is in the best interest of the state to encourage livestock activities, as well as other agritourist activities. The State has manifested this determination by explicitly limiting the civil liability of livestock and agritourism activity sponsors, participants, and professionals when it comes to injury or damage resulting from the risks inherent in such activities.
These statutes provide immunity from liability for Equine and Agritourism sponsors, participants, and professionals when they act in good faith, pursuant to the standards of the livestock and agritourism industry.
WARNING
Under Oklahoma law, there is no liability for an injury to or death of a participant in an agritourism activity conducted at this agritourism location if such injury or death results from the inherent risks of the agritourism activity. Inherent risks of agritourism activities include, among others, risks of injury inherent to land, equipment, and animals, as well as the potential for you to act in a negligent manner that may contribute to your injury or death. You are assuming the risk of participating in this agritourism activity.
Links to full statues are located at the bottom of this page. However, below are some examples provided by the Oklahoma Agritourism Department to help everyone understand the meaning behind the law:
Probably Covered: Participant falls off a horse during a trail ride and suffers a broken arm.
Probably NOT Covered: The horse is a former rodeo horse, “Diablo,” known as the meanest bucking horse west of the Mississippi!
Probably Covered: Participant picking pumpkins trips on a root and falls and is injured.
Probably NOT Covered: Participant fell into a leg-hold trap, used for catching coyotes, and inadvertently left out.
Probably Covered: Participant injured on a 4th of July hayride on the farm.
Probably NOT Covered: Fireworks were supplied for participants to use during the hayride, the wagon caught fire, and participants were injured.
We want to assure all of our customers and visitors that TTW vets and tests the suitability of all of our horses, but horses are not machines. They all have unique personalities. They can feel unwell, be irritable on occasion, have an attitude, or wake up on the wrong side of the stall! Horses are also large prey animals, meaning they are an animal naturally preyed upon by predators, and then eaten when caught. Consequently, they have developed heightened senses of hyper alertness. No matter the handling by humans, they can be startled or surprised by an unexpected sounds or movements, and react with their instinctive flight or fight behavior.
It should be noted that while horses originated in North America, they were hunted to extinction on this continent by predators, foremost among which were our early ancestors (“Man”). In fact, Man has hunted horses for food far-far longer than the mere 6,000 years that horses have been domesticated, and ; leading scholars content that it was only domestication that saved the horse from extinction in Europe and Asia. So they are large prey animals and will react like large prey animals, and this presents inherent risks. On the other hand, the partnership between horse and man is very old. Traveling on horseback, or in a horse-pulled vehicle, has been the primary mode of travel on land other than walking, for approximately 5,913 of the last 6,000 years of the horses’ domestication.
Be assured that we provide safety training for all of our personnel; however, it must be recognized and acknowledged that good faith precautions will not eliminate all accidents or injuries. Therefore, WE WANT YOU TO COME, BUT YOU RIDE AND PARTICIPATE, AT YOUR OWN RISK.
To view the actual legal documents, please click on the links below:
Bill Number 1638: Agritourism Activities Liability Limitations
States’ Agritourism Statutes Oklahoma
Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, Title 76, Torts, Livestock Activities Liability Limitation Act