REBECCA ELIZABETH STEWART (A MINOR) V DAVID AND MARGARET MCMILLAN T/A LIME PARK EQUESTRIAN CENTRE

Craigavon County Court sitting at Lisburn
27 September 2004
Judge Lynch

The Plaintiff claimed that on the 29th September 1999 she was attending the Defendant’s premises for a riding lesson. She fell off when jumping over a fence. The Plaintiff’s evidence was that the accident occurred because, firstly, during the lesson reins were not being used. Secondly, the instructor was sitting on the fence whilst the pony jumped and thirdly, the instructor tried to provoke, by waving his arms, the pony to get the pony to go over the jump.

Evidence was given by two equestrian experts, one for the Plaintiff and one for the Defendant. Whilst the experts differed on aspects of the case, both experts agreed that they had never come across an instructor sitting on a fence while a horse was jumping, nor would they have expected an instructor to wave his arms at a pony to get it to jump, as arm waving would have the opposite effect.

Judge Lynch said he had a problem with the account given by the Plaintiff. He could not accept from a commonsense point of view, why anyone with any experience of horse instruction would sit on a fence while a horse was jumping or wave their arms at a horse to get it to jump.

He therefore found the case had not been made out by the Plaintiff. The case was dismissed.

The usual order for costs was made as the Plaintiff was legally aided.