Are Landowners Liable for Horse Riding Injury to Child?

A recent case out of the Waco Court of Appeals, James v. Young, is the real-life version of many landowners’ nightmare.  When a six-year-old child fell off of a horse the landowners allowed him to ride, his parents filed suit.  Did the Farm Animal Liability Act apply to shield the landowners from liability? The James family and the Young family were friends.  One weekend, the two families were spending time at the Young ranch.  The mothers and two of the children rode horses while several of the men worked cattle.  When the mothers and children returned, six-year-old Bradey James said he wanted to ride the horse as well.  Bradey and another child, Daniel, got on two of the horses and rode down a gravel road.  They turned around and headed back towards other horses up the road and the horses they were riding began running.  Bradey hit his head on the saddle horn, fell off of the horse he was riding, and was injured. The James family filed suit against Justin and Paul Young for negligent handling of animals claiming that they failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent the horse from injuring Bradey and that they allowed the child, who was only six-years-old, to ride their horse and failed to determine the ability to safely manage the horse before allowing Bradey to ride. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Justin and Paul Young and dismissed the case.  The court found no genuine issue of material fact in this case to justify going to trial.  The James family appealed. The Youngs claim that the Farm Animal Liability Act relieves them from liability.  The James family concedes that the Act applies, but claims that they at least raised a genuine issue of material fact over whether the exception was applicable and their claims may go forward.