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There are a number of legal responsibilities associated with horses. These arise out of, firstly, obligations of horse owners in relation to animal welfare, and secondly, actions of the horse which may result in injury to the horse, the rider, other people or damage to property.
All horse owners in the ACT should be aware of provisions relating to animal welfare contained in the Animal Welfare Act 1992 (ACT). Under this Act, people in charge of all animals, including horses, have a legal liability to care for those animals. A person must not, without reasonable excuse, commit an act of cruelty, or deliberately cause unnecessary pain to a horse, or fail to provide it with appropriate and adequate food, water, shelter and exercise. All horse owners are expected to be familiar with the Act and its Regulations. Under Section 22 of the Act, a Code of Practice has been drawn up specifically relating to the welfare of horses. This code of practice can be found in Special Gazette No. S255 of 8 December 1993 (Determination No.162 of 1993). The Code of Practice provides an outline of the principles of good horse husbandry, management and handling and gives details of responsible ownership, food and water, premises, education and training, treatment procedures, veterinary care, humane death, transport, and competitive discipline codes. The Animal Welfare Act also provides for the appointment of inspectors and authorised officers (usually veterinarians) to investigate matters relating to animal welfare. Police officers are also authorised to carry out the duties of inspectors. An inspector, or authorised officer, has the power to enter premises or rural properties to inspect animals and take action, including the removal of animals, to alleviate suffering of those animals. It is an offence under the Act to obstruct an inspector from entering premises. It is possible that the owner of land (e.g. a horse agistment property) may be charged in relation to animal welfare even though the property owner does not own the horse. Recently a fourth Appendix has been added to the Act which relates specifically to commercial horse riding establishments (see Chapter 5). If you have any questions in relation to animal welfare in the ACT you can ring the Animal Welfare Officer: Animal Welfare Section Environment and Conservation Division Department of Environment, Land and Planning PO Box 1038 Tuggeranong ACT 2901 Phone: 207-2249 |
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