Tan v. Goddard

In Tan v. Goddard (1993) 13 Cal.App.4th 1528, an instructor increased the inherent risks of horse riding by knowingly providing his student a horse with an injured foot and instructing the student to jog the horse in the reverse direction of a particularly rocky track; the horse's leg gave way, and the student fell. (Tan, supra, 13 Cal.App.4th at pages 1531, 1535.) In reversing a summary judgment in favor of the instructor, the appellate court stated that the instructor had a duty to ensure that the horse he assigned his student was "safe to ride under the conditions he prescribed for that activity." (Tan, supra, 13 Cal.App.4th at page 1535.) In sum, the court held that a riding instructor had a duty to the student "to see to it that the horse he assigned to the student was safe to ride under the conditions the instructor prescribed for the activity." (Tan, supra, 13 Cal.App.4th at p. 1535.) Citing evidence that the instructor assigned a horse he knew "was 'off' due to an injury" and then told the student to jog the horse on a rocky part of the facility, the court concluded these were triable issues of material fact that required reversal of the summary judgment entered in favor of the riding school. (Id. at pp. 1535-1536.)