A horse rider can be liable when his horse causes a road traffic accident under the common law of negligence and/ or under the Animals Act 1971.
To establish negligence the following elements must be present:
Horse riders owe a duty of care to other road users. This duty extends to other riders, pedestrians, cyclists and vehicle drivers.
When deciding whether a person breached the duty of care, the court will consider whether the horse rider knew there was a risk of the accident occurring and whether a reasonable horse rider in the same situation would have realised there was a risk of the accident occurring.
The court will consider whether the horse rider was breaking the law when the accident took place. For example, it is a criminal offence to wilfully ride on a footpath or causeway by the side of the road made or set apart for the use of foot passengers. Failure to comply with the law will ordinarily be enough to establish breach of the duty of care.
The court will also take into account the provisions of the Highway Code, including:
Once it has been established that the horse rider breached their duty of care, it is necessary to establish whether the breach of the duty of care caused the other person’s loss.
A person will be liable for losses and damage that are a direct result of their breach of the duty of care. The question is whether the injury or damage or loss would have occurred but for, or without, the horse rider’s breach of the duty owed to the injured party.
A horse rider will not be liable for any damage which is ‘too remote’, or was not reasonably foreseeable.
Even if there is a breach of the duty of care and causation has been established, the other party to the accident will not succeed in a claim against the horse rider unless he can show he has suffered loss. Such loss could be damage to property such as a car, loss of income or payment of a medical bill.
A horse rider can be held liable for an accident under the Animals Act 1971 if:
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
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