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A while back I prepard a Farm n Crop lease for a client and included the general boiler plate legal schmegal making the Lessee responsible for damages or injury on or about the premises occasioned by the use of the land and/or livestock on or off the premises..... .... and that the Lessee shall indemnify, protect and hold harmless Lessors from and against any and all claims and all loss or damage to persons or property or death or injury arising from Lessees’ own acts including farming or pasture use, including the acts of its agents, contractors or employees on or about the Leased Premises, and from and against all costs, attorney’s fees, expenses and liabilities incurred in the defense of any such claim or action. On a pasture lease ITS VERY IMPORTANT to define who is responsible for fence maintenance cuz if the land owner is yet livestock escapes n causes injury GUESS WHO MAY BE LIABLE????? ????? If I represented the land owner Lessor, Id want the Lessee to be responsible for fence maintenance if that could be negotiated !!!!! !!! Then I had a clause requiring the Lessee to provide Liability Insurance Then more blah blah blah and yadda yadda yadda etc etc etc lol MY BEST FREE ADVICE IS TO CONSULT A LOCAL ATTORNEY cuz a couple hundred bucks well spent may save you thousands down the roads in case a horse got out and caused an auto accident n killed a child. There exists "common law" to sort out liability and contractual issues in the absence of a writing in the event you verbally leased pasture and a horse escaped n caused injury, but my advice is to use private contract law (i.e. the lease) to define n settle all the issues up front. If a potential lessee isnt willign to sign a lease and be responsible for his horses, Id tell him to hit the road. John T Retired Engineer now Attorney at Law in Indiana
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