Minor Participant Consent & Waiver

This Minor Participant Consent & Waiver ("Waiver") is made as of [DATE] by the undersigned parent or legal guardian ("Parent") of the minor identified below ("Minor"), in favor of [FACILITY NAME], located at [FACILITY ADDRESS], and its owners, officers, employees, instructors, agents, and volunteers (collectively, the "Facility"). The Parent signs this Waiver so that the Minor may take part in riding lessons, horse handling, camps, shows, trail rides, and other equine activities offered or supervised by the Facility (collectively, the "Activities"). Because a minor cannot legally waive the minor's own claims, the Parent signs on the Minor's behalf and on the Parent's own behalf.

1. Minor Participant Information

Minor Full Name: ______________________________

Minor Date of Birth: ______________________________

Minor Age: ______________________________

Parent/Guardian Full Name: ______________________________

Relationship to Minor: ______________________________

Home Address: ______________________________

Phone: ______________________________

Email: ______________________________

2. Parent/Guardian Authority

The Parent represents and warrants that the Parent is the biological parent, adoptive parent, or court-appointed legal guardian of the Minor, and is the sole legal custodian of the Minor or is otherwise legally authorized to enroll the Minor in the Activities and to sign this Waiver on the Minor's behalf. If custody of the Minor is shared, the Parent represents that the Parent has the authority to make these decisions and to bind the Minor and, to the extent permitted by law, any other parent or guardian. The Parent will promptly notify the Facility in writing of any change in custody or guardianship.

3. Inherent Risks of Equine Activities

The Parent understands and acknowledges that horses are large, powerful, and unpredictable animals and that equine activities are inherently dangerous, whether the Minor is mounted or on the ground. The specific risks the Minor faces include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A horse bucking, rearing, bolting, spooking, or bolting away without warning;
• A horse biting, kicking, striking, stepping on, shoving, or crushing the Minor;
• The Minor falling from, or being thrown, dragged, or rolled on by, a horse;
• A horse reacting unpredictably to sounds, movements, other animals, weather, or unfamiliar objects;
• Collisions with other horses, riders, fences, gates, trees, or equipment;
• Failure or breakage of tack, girths, reins, stirrups, or other equipment;
• Uneven footing, slick surfaces, and the ordinary hazards of a barn, arena, or trail; and
• Serious injury including broken bones, concussion and other head injury, spinal injury, paralysis, or death.

The Parent understands that these risks cannot be eliminated regardless of the care the Facility takes, that a school horse's past gentleness is no guarantee of future behavior, and that the Minor's own inexperience may increase these risks.

4. Assumption of Risk on the Minor's Behalf

Having read and understood the risks described above, the Parent knowingly and voluntarily assumes, on the Parent's own behalf and on behalf of the Minor, all risks of injury, illness, death, or property damage arising from or related to the Minor's participation in the Activities, whether or not those risks are specifically listed above and whether they arise from the inherent risks of equine activities or from ordinary negligence to the fullest extent permitted by the law of the State of [STATE]. The Parent accepts full responsibility for the Minor's participation.

________ (initials) Parent has read the risks above and assumes all risk of the Minor's participation on the Minor's behalf.