Equine Law

We’re horse people who understand horse problems.

Saddle Peak Law represents horse owners, breeders, trainers, boarding facilities, and equine businesses across Montana. We bring legal expertise and firsthand knowledge of the horse world to every case.

Who We Work With:

Trainers & Riding Instructors

Your work involves horses, clients, and physical risk every single day. We help trainers and instructors put the right agreements and waivers in place before something goes wrong.

Breeders & Sellers

Sales, breeding agreements, and partnerships all come with legal exposure. We help breeders and sellers structure transactions that are clear and enforceable from the start.

Horse Owners

Buying, selling, leasing, or co-owning a horse involves more legal complexity than most people expect. We help individual owners protect themselves and their animals.

Boarding Facilities & Barns

Running a boarding operation without solid contracts and liability protections is a real risk. We help facilities draft agreements that actually provide you protection.

What We Handle:

Training & Lesson Contracts

Trainers and riding instructors take on real liability every time they work with a horse and a client. A solid training contract protects both parties — it sets clear expectations about goals, fees, scheduling, the role of the trainer, and what happens if a horse is injured or a client is hurt during a lesson. We draft enforceable training and lesson agreements and review contracts that have been presented to you.

Boarding Agreements

A boarding contract is the most basic protection a facility can have — and one of the most commonly skipped. A well-drafted agreement should clearly address monthly fees, payment terms, care standards, turnout and feeding expectations, liability for injury or death, and what happens if a horse is abandoned or a boarder stops paying. We draft boarding agreements tailored to your specific operation, not a generic template that may not hold up under Montana law.

Lease Agreements

Horse leases — full leases, half leases, and breeding leases — are complicated because they involve ongoing relationships and a lot of potential for misunderstanding. Who's responsible for vet bills? What happens if the horse is injured while in the lessee's care? When and how does the lease end? We draft lease agreements that answer these questions before they become disputes.

Horse Sale & Purchase Agreements

Buying or selling a horse without a written agreement is one of the most common ways horse transactions go wrong. A good sale contract covers price, payment terms, pre-purchase exam requirements, what representations are being made about the horse's health and soundness, and what happens if something turns out to be different than advertised. We draft and review sale agreements for private transactions, auction sales, and dealer transactions.

Equine Disputes & Litigation

When an agreement breaks down — a boarder who won't leave, a sale that turns into a dispute over the horse's condition, an ownership conflict, an injury claim — we represent clients in negotiation, mediation, and litigation. We aim for practical resolutions that don't drag on, but we're fully prepared to take a case to court when that's what's needed.

Liability Waivers & Assumption of Risk

Montana has equine liability statutes that provide some protection to facilities and professionals — but only if you've taken the right steps, including proper signage and well-drafted waivers. A liability waiver from the internet probably won't give you the protection you think it does. We draft waivers and assumption-of-risk forms that are built for Montana law and your specific operation.

Property Liability Assessments

If you run a facility, host clinics or shows, or simply have horses on your property that other people interact with, your liability exposure is worth understanding before something happens. We review your current setup — contracts, waivers, signage, and practices — and help you identify gaps and reduce risk.

Equine law for horse people.

Brittany owns horses, has been riding for most of her life, and is deeply connected to the equine community in Montana. When she talks to a boarding facility owner about their liability exposure, or helps a buyer understand what a pre-purchase exam clause should say, she's drawing on actual knowledge of how the horse world works — not just legal research.

That matters when you're dealing with disputes that involve animals, relationships, and a lot of money – often all at once. You don't want to spend your first consultation explaining what a coggins test is.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes — always. Verbal agreements work fine when everything goes smoothly. When something goes wrong, they almost never hold up. A written contract sets clear expectations for both parties, gives you something to point to if there's a dispute, and signals that you run a professional operation. We've seen a lot of horse disputes that would have been entirely avoidable with a one-page agreement.

    At Saddle Peak Law, we offer general counsel services tailored for small businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs who don’t need a full-time in-house lawyer but still want trusted, ongoing legal support.

  • You could — but it's risky. Generic contracts often don't follow Montana law, don't address the specific risks of your operation, and leave gaps that matter. We customize every agreement to reflect your business and comply with Montana's equine liability statutes, so you have real protection rather than the appearance of it.

  • When properly drafted, yes. Montana recognizes equine activity liability and assumption-of-risk provisions — but only when they're clear, specific, and legally sound. There's also a Montana statute that requires specific signage to activate certain protections. We'll make sure your waiver and your operation are set up correctly to give you actual protection.

  • You could be facing a liability claim — especially without solid contracts and waivers in place. We help facilities and horse owners assess their risk exposure, review their current documents and practices, and make the changes needed to reduce liability before something happens. If a claim has already been made, we'll help you respond.

  • Yes. We represent clients in a range of equine disputes — a broken sale agreement, a boarder who stopped paying and won't remove their horse, a disagreement over who actually owns an animal, or a horse that wasn't what it was represented to be. We look for practical resolutions first, but we're prepared to litigate when that's the right call.

  • At minimum: purchase price and payment terms, a description of the horse (including age, breed, markings, and any known health issues), what pre-purchase exam rights the buyer has, any representations or warranties the seller is making about soundness or fitness, risk of loss before and after transfer, and what happens if either party backs out. We can draft a sale agreement tailored to your transaction or review one that's been presented to you.

  • Yes — maybe even more so. Informal arrangements between friends and neighbors are exactly the kind of situation where expectations are most likely to differ and written agreements are least likely to exist. If a horse gets hurt on your property, or a friend stops paying for board, or there's a disagreement about who's responsible for vet bills, you'll wish you had something in writing.