Re: Grand River Stables, File No. xx-xxx
Whether Grand River Stables (GRS) and its owner and operator, Mr. Church, are insulated from liability to Allison Wing under the Michigan Equine Activity Liability Act, M.C.L.A section 691.1661 et seq. (EALA), and if not, whether GRS is liable to Ms. Wing under a negligence cause of action.
Our client, Mr. Church, wants to know whether he and/or GRS have legal liability to Allison Wing in connection with injuries suffered by Ms. Wing as a result of her falling from a horse which was provided by GRS to three girls, one of whom was Ms. Wing, who were being given a group riding lesson on July 24 of this year. Ms. Wing allegedly suffered various injuries from the fall, including a broken arm and broken collar bone and a possible concussion from hitting her head on a rock in the area of the fall.
GRS offers English riding lessons on its horses and horses owned by riders to people of all ages and stages of riding experience, including beginners. GRS supplies riders with tack or horse equipment used in horseback riding. GRS has been in operation for about 10 years. It also boards horses and breeding services for mares.
According to Mr. Church, the owner and operator of GRS, Ms. Wing told him that she was almost as good a rider as her sister, Krista, who, he says, is a good intermediate rider. Mr. Church had never seen Ms. Wing ride before. He did not start her on a lunge line (a nylon strapping which is designed to permit the rider to control a horse from the ground and restrict its movement within a 50 foot radius from the person holding the lunge line). She rode on Salt, a 15 year thoroughbred gelding, which has been a schooling horse for GRS for about ten years and which is regularly used for lessons at all levels.
Mr. Church said he does not know what happened but he assumes that the horse got away from her or she lost her balance. He noticed the day after the fall that the girt...