Does North Dakota law protect those who provide horse boarding, training, and riding services from liability for injuries sustained by their customers?

Yes. North Dakota's equine activity statute generally shields "equine activity sponsors" and "equine professionals" from liability for bodily injuries sustained by participants during equine activities.

An equine activity sponsor or an equine professional is not liable for an injury to or the death of a participant engaged in an equine activity, and…no participant or participant's representative may maintain an action against or recover from an equine activity sponsor or an equine professional for an injury to or the death of a participant engaged in an equine activity….

N.D.C.C. § 53-10-02(1). However, there are a number of significant exceptions to this limitation of liability including the following:

a. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional:

(1) Provided the equipment or tack and the equipment or tack caused the injury; or

(2) Provided the equine and failed to make reasonable and prudent efforts to determine the ability of the participant to engage safely in the equine activity, to determine the ability of the equine to behave safely with the participant, and to determine the ability of the participant to safely manage the particular equine;

b. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional…is in lawful possession and control of the land or facility upon which the participant sustained an injury because of the dangerous latent condition which was known to or should have been known to the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional and for which a warning sign has not been conspicuously posted;

c. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional commits an act or omission that constitutes a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the participant and that act or omission caused the injury; [and]

d. If the equine activity sponsor or the equine professional intentionally injures the participant.

N.D.C.C. § 53-10-02(2); see N.D.C.C. § 53-10-01 (defining "equine activity," "equine activity sponsor," "equine professional," and "participant").

In other words, it is very important for those engaged in providing horse boarding, riding, and training services to exercise care in providing those services including maintaining tack and riding areas as well as selecting suitable lesson horses to invoke the protections afforded by North Dakota's equine activity statute.