In last Saturday's post about a local equine liability lawsuit, I included a poll which posed the question "Should a person be held responsible for an injury that another incurs while interacting with their horses?" Here are your responses: 

• 45.45% of you believe that the horse owner SHOULD NOT be liable.
• 4.55% of you believe that the horse owner SHOULD be liable.
• 50.00% of you believe that the liability DEPENDS on the situation.

As a self-proclaimed control freak, it is easy for me to lean toward the SHOULD NOT category, since I know the somewhat obsessive care I take to keep others safe around my animals. But there are always exceptions and I realize that not every horse owner breaks into a sweat each time a stranger's grass-filled hand reaches out to their horse's willing mouth or installs electric fence to keep other people out of their pasture rather than to keep their horses in. There are always exceptions. 
 
For example, in 2000 a Darwin Award (The Human Hitching Post) was awarded to a Nevada woman who tied her skittish Arabian to her waist to prevent it from tossing its head away from the bridle. After being dragged around the pasture and trampled for about 10 minutes, the woman died from the severe internal injuries and head trauma. 

Like I said before, there are ALWAYS exceptions.

Cowboy Logic of the Day

"Trust everybody in the game, but always cut the cards."