An article by Allan Noble, President of the Equestrian Partners in Conservation (EPIC)
Originally published in The Equiery, Your Maryland Horse Council Publication, April 2025
Download the full article (PDF) here: The Equiery, April 2025.

From time to time, I am asked about the liability of landowners who allow horseback riders to ride on their property. Perhaps this is because I spent close to 50 years as a trial lawyer litigating negligence cases, including landowner liability. Or, perhaps it's because I am the President of Equestrian Partners in Conservation (EPIC), a nonprofit that works with landowners to build and maintain equestrian trails in Montgomery County. Although Maryland law is clear, it always surprises me how much confusion exists on this issue. If a landowner allows a horseback rider to ride on their property, is the landowner responsible if the rider gets hurt? This article addresses this issue and attempts to clear up any confusion that may exist.

Simply stated, and with some exceptions, which I will discuss, there is no liability for landowners who allow horseback riders on their property. The only duty owed by landowners (which includes their agents) to any persons (including horseback riders) they allow to come on their property is not to willfully injure or entrap them. Essentially these horseback riders take the property as it exists. The important consideration is that these landowners are simply allowing horseback riders to come on their property but not charging them or specifically inviting them.

Maryland Common Law

To better understand this issue, we need to first examine Maryland common law. Just because someone is injured on your property, doesn't mean that anyone is at fault. Rather the person making a claim has to be owed a duty of care which has been breached by the landowner. Under Maryland common law, the duty of owners or possessors of property to people injured on their property depends upon the injured person’s status on the property. The law breaks down the status of these persons into four categories: (1) invitees, (2) social guests (also known as licensees by invitation), (3) bare licensees and (4) trespassers.

An invitee is a person who is invited or permitted to be on another's property for purposes related to the owner’s or occupier’s business—such as a boarding stable, a purveyor of riding lessons, etc. A social guest  is a person who is on the property of another at the express or implied invitation of the owner for reasons unrelated to the owner’s or invitee’s business. Although this article does not address these first two categories, it should be noted that if you invite a horseback rider onto your property, your liability is the same as if you were inviting any guest onto your property. These first two categories present different issues and the legal standards are different. The liability of an owner in these cases depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. 

The third and fourth categories are bare licensees and trespassers. A bare licensee is a person who is on another’s property with the consent, but not at the invitation, of the owner or occupier and who is there to serve his or her own interests, but not to serve any interest of the owner or occupier. Having a trail on one’s property and allowing riders to use it is NOT extending an invitation. A trespasser is a person who is on the property without the consent of the owner or occupier of the property. 

Importantly, the duty owed to a bare licensee or trespasser is the same. The only duty owed to a bare licensee or trespasser is to refrain from willfully injuring or entrapping the person. A bare licensee or trespasser takes the property as it exists. Willful injury involves knowledge of a real and imminent peril to the bare licensee or trespasser. The Maryland cases discussing this concept generally consider this conduct to be of a deliberate nature. The classic example of willfulness is a landowner who sets a secret trap, such as spring gun, to injure persons coming on their property.

In summary, allowing a horseback rider to ride on your property makes that person a bare licensee. The only duty owed by the landowner is not to willfully injure or entrap the horseback rider.

The Maryland Recreational Use Statute

In 1966 the Maryland legislature adopted the Maryland Recreational Use Statute (presently found in Section 5–1101, et seq., Natural Resources Article, Maryland Code) to limit the liability of landowners in exchange for allowing access to their land for recreational and educational uses. The statute was derived from a model created by the Council of State Governments to encourage landowners to make their lands available for public use by limiting tort liability.

Section 5–1103 states:

“Except as specifically recognized by or provided in Section 5–1106 of this subtitle, an owner of land owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by others for any recreational or educational purpose, or to give any warning of a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity on the premises to any person who enters on the land for these purposes.”

The exceptions provided in Section 5–1106 are (1) willful, or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity… and (2) when the landowner charges for entry. Paragraph (1) essentially adopts the common law standard for bare licensees and trespassers.

The statute is a trade-off that limits the liability of landowners in exchange for allowing access to their property for recreational and educational uses. The statute clearly applies to horseback riding, which is a recreational use. Although “open to the public” is not defined, it is commonly understood that as long as it is open to all horseback riders, the statute applies. Under case law, interpreting this statute, the owner has the lowest duty in the law, i.e. the duty owed to trespassers and bare licensees. 

Maryland is generally considered a conservative jurisdiction in protecting landowners from liability. Although there are periodic attempts to change the law, Maryland is not a comparative negligence state. This means that if a plaintiff is in anyway contributorily negligent (even one percent) he or she is barred from recovery. This doctrine also gives landowners a strong defense.

It may be arguable that the Recreational Use Statute was not necessary given the status of the common law as adopted in Maryland. It should be pointed out that many other states who adopted the recreational use legislation do not subscribe to the same common law standards and therefore, this recreational statute was crucial in protecting landowners from liability in those states. What the statute does in Maryland is to effectively codify the common law standard such that the Courts cannot change it.

I hope this article will convince more landowners to open their property to horseback riding. Granted, I have a vested interest in this issue because I am a trail rider, but I fervently believe that there are no legal downsides to opening one's land to allow horseback riding.

Happy trails,
Allan Noble

 1. About the author. Allan Noble is a retired trial attorney. He was the managing partner of Budow and Noble, a prominent Maryland insurance defense firm. He spent close to 50 years as a civil litigator representing major insurance companies and their insureds in premises liability cases in every jurisdiction in Maryland. This included representing landowners, stable owners, and horse owners in a variety of cases. He and his wife are avid trail riders, and live on a small farm in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve with their horses and animals. Before retirement, he was active in endurance and competitive trail riding. He currently serves as President of Equestrian Partners in Conservation (EPIC)(see: epicmontgomery.org) and is past president of the Sugarloaf Riding Club.

2. EPIC is a volunteer led 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to preserving the equestrian heritage and rural character of upper Montgomery County and working with public and private landowners to create and maintain equestrian trails. For more information on EPIC’s mission see our website at epicmontgomery.org.

 3. In general, common law is a body of law that develops and derives through judicial decisions as distinguished from legislative enactments.