Terms of Service

Last updated: October 8, 2026

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and The Ranch Hand (“The Ranch Hand,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern your use of theranchhand.farm and any related services (together, the “Service”). By visiting the site, creating an account, checking the box to agree, posting a job, or sending us a request or message, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

Please read sections 10 through 16 carefully. They limit our liability, require you to accept the risks of working with animals, and explain how disputes are resolved.

1. Definitions

A “Ranch” is a person or business that owns or is responsible for animals and uses the Service to find care for them.
A “Hand” is a person who uses the Service to offer animal care, farm, or ranch services.
A “Care Arrangement” is any agreement between a Ranch and a Hand for services, whether it is made through the Service or after an introduction we made.
“User Content” is anything you submit to the Service, including profile information, photos, resumes, job posts, messages, and reviews.

2. What The Ranch Hand is, and is not

The Ranch Hand is an online venue. It helps Ranches and Hands find each other. We list Hand profiles, display job posts, pass along requests, and make introductions.

We are not a party to any Care Arrangement. We do not provide animal care. We do not employ, supervise, direct, or control Hands or the work they do. We do not guarantee that a Hand will be available, that a job will be filled, or that any arrangement will work out. Every Care Arrangement, including its duties, schedule, rates, payment, and any insurance, is solely between the Ranch and the Hand.

Hands are not our employees. Hands are independent individuals or businesses, not employees, agents, joint venturers, or partners of The Ranch Hand. Hands decide whether to accept work, set their own rates and schedules, and use their own judgment and methods. Hands are responsible for their own taxes, licenses, permits, insurance, and compliance with the law. Nothing in these Terms creates an employment relationship between The Ranch Hand and anyone. Whether a Hand is an employee or a contractor of a particular Ranch is a matter between the two of them.

3. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract. If you use the Service for a business, you confirm that you are authorized to bind that business.
Everything you tell us must be true, accurate, and up to date. You may hold only one account of each type, and only for yourself.
You are responsible for keeping your password secret and for everything that happens under your account. Tell us right away if you think someone else has used it.
We review Hand profiles before they appear publicly. We may approve, decline, edit, hide, or remove any profile, job post, or account at our discretion, with or without notice. We may also suspend or close any account, including for violating these Terms, for safety concerns, or for inactivity.

4. Vetting, Trust Scores, and what we do not verify

We ask Hands to describe their experience honestly, and we review profiles before publishing them. We may contact references. However:

We do not run criminal background checks, identity checks, or license or certification checks unless we expressly say so for a particular Hand.
A Trust Score is a points total calculated from the information on a Hand’s profile, such as whether they uploaded a resume, added references, or linked social accounts. It measures how complete a profile is. It is not a background check, a rating of skill or character, a certification, a guarantee, or an endorsement by The Ranch Hand.
Reviews, ratings, and profile information come from users. We do not guarantee that they are accurate.

You are responsible for your own decisions. Before you trust someone with your animals or your property, or before you accept work on someone else’s property, do your own checking. Meet in person, call the references, ask about the animals and the job, check insurance, and put the details of the arrangement in writing.

5. Responsibilities of Ranches

Give Hands complete and accurate information about your animals, including temperament, health, medications, feeding, known dangers (such as biting, kicking, aggression, or contagious conditions), and the condition of your property and equipment.
Provide written care instructions, emergency contacts, your veterinarian’s contact details, and authorization for emergency veterinary treatment.
Keep your property, facilities, and equipment reasonably safe, and warn Hands about any hazards.
Carry any insurance you consider appropriate, and confirm whether your own policies cover people working on your property.
Pay Hands as agreed. Comply with any labor, tax, or employment laws that apply to you as the person engaging the Hand.

6. Responsibilities of Hands

Describe your experience, skills, and availability honestly. Accept only work you are qualified and physically able to do safely.
Follow the Ranch’s instructions, care for animals humanely, and contact the Ranch and a veterinarian promptly if an animal is sick or injured.
Respect the Ranch’s property and privacy. Do not bring other people or animals onto the property without permission.
Obtain any licenses, permits, or insurance you need. Pay your own taxes.

7. Fees and payment

Job-posting plans. Ranches may buy plans to post jobs and reach more Hands, along with add-ons such as Boosts. Current plans and prices are listed on our plans page and may change at any time. A price change does not affect a plan you have already paid for. Plans describe how widely we will show your job and which Hands it will reach. A plan does not guarantee any number of applicants, a hire, or the quality of any Hand. If no Hands meet a plan’s Trust Score or distance requirements, we may show your job to the closest available Hands instead, or offer you a different plan.

How you pay. Until online checkout launches, we will contact you to arrange payment after you choose a plan. Once it launches, payments will be handled by a third-party payment processor under its own terms. You agree to pay all fees for the plans and add-ons you buy, plus any applicable taxes.

Refunds. Fees are non-refundable once your job has been posted, except where the law requires otherwise. If we cannot post your job, or we remove it for reasons that are not your fault, we will refund the fee for that posting. We may remove a job post that violates these Terms without a refund.

Payment for animal care. Unless we expressly offer a payment service in the future, payments for care services are made directly between the Ranch and the Hand, and we have no part in them. Rates shown on profiles are what Hands have told us they charge, and are for guidance only. We may introduce new fees, such as service fees on bookings. We will tell you about any new fee before you are charged it.

8. Your content and how we may use it

You keep ownership of your User Content. By submitting it, you give The Ranch Hand a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable license to host, store, copy, display, adapt (for example, resizing a photo), and distribute it to operate, improve, and promote the Service. This includes showing your profile in our directory and, for jobs posted on plans that include it, sharing your job on our social media. This license ends when your content is removed from the Service, except for copies already shared, copies in backups, and copies we must keep for legal reasons.

You confirm that you own your User Content or have permission to share it. That includes having your references’ permission to give us their contact details. You also confirm that your User Content does not violate anyone’s rights or any law. Do not submit anything false, misleading, defamatory, obscene, discriminatory, or unlawful. Reviews must reflect real experiences. Fake reviews and reviews written in exchange for payment are prohibited.

9. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

harass, threaten, defraud, or discriminate against anyone, or mistreat or neglect any animal;
impersonate anyone, or create a false or duplicate account;
post a job for anything illegal, or for anything other than real animal, farm, or ranch work;
scrape, harvest, or collect other users’ information, or use it for anything other than a Care Arrangement;
send spam or unsolicited advertising;
upload viruses or malicious code, probe our security, or interfere with how the Service runs;
copy, resell, or build a competing service from our content or our directory.

10. Assumption of risk

Working with horses, livestock, and other farm animals is inherently dangerous. Animals can be unpredictable, even when they are familiar or well trained. They can kick, bite, strike, buck, bolt, crush, or trample, and they can carry diseases that pass to people. Farm and ranch work also involves heavy equipment, machinery, fencing, uneven ground, water, weather, and other hazards. Any of these can cause property damage, serious injury, illness, or death, to people and to animals.

You understand and voluntarily accept these risks, whether you are a Ranch or a Hand. You are solely responsible for deciding whether a job, an animal, or a property is safe for you, and for taking reasonable precautions. Ranches and Hands are encouraged to sign their own written agreements, including any releases or warning notices required or recommended under the laws of their state (such as Tennessee’s equine activity law, Tenn. Code Ann. Title 44, Chapter 20).

11. Release

To the fullest extent the law allows, The Ranch Hand is not responsible for the acts, omissions, or conduct of any Ranch, Hand, or other user, whether online or offline. You release The Ranch Hand and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from all claims, demands, and damages of every kind, known and unknown, that arise out of or relate to any Care Arrangement, or to any dispute or interaction between you and another user. This includes claims for injury, illness, or death of any person or animal, damage to or loss of property, and non-payment. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code § 1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party.” Residents of other states waive any similar law.

12. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. These include warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and accuracy. We do not warrant that any profile, Trust Score, review, rate, or job post is accurate or complete. We do not warrant that any user is qualified, honest, insured, or safe, or that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. Nothing on the Service is veterinary, legal, tax, or employment advice. In an animal emergency, call a veterinarian.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

The Ranch Hand will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, even if we were told such damages were possible.
The Ranch Hand will not be liable for any bodily injury, illness, death, emotional distress, or property damage, including the injury, illness, death, loss, or theft of any animal, that arises out of a Care Arrangement or the conduct of any user.
Our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event that gave rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

These limits apply to every legal theory, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or otherwise, and they apply even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some places do not allow certain exclusions or limits. Where that is the case, our liability is limited to the smallest amount the law allows.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Ranch Hand and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from all claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, that arise out of or relate to any of the following: your use of the Service; your User Content; any Care Arrangement you enter; your animals or your property; your violation of these Terms or of any law; or your violation of anyone else’s rights.

15. Disputes between users

Disputes between Ranches and Hands are for them to resolve. We may, if we choose, try to help, but we have no obligation to do so. Any help we give does not make us responsible for the outcome.

16. Governing law and resolving disputes with us

Talk to us first. If you have a dispute with The Ranch Hand, contact us through our contact page and describe it. We will try in good faith to resolve it informally within 30 days. Neither side may start a lawsuit until those 30 days have passed, except to seek urgent injunctive relief.

Governing law. These Terms and any dispute relating to the Service are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee and applicable U.S. federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

Where disputes are heard. Any lawsuit must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Tennessee, and you and we consent to their personal jurisdiction. Either side may instead bring an individual claim in small claims court where it qualifies.

Individual claims only. To the fullest extent the law allows, you and we each agree to bring claims only on an individual basis, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative action. You and we also waive any right to a jury trial.

Time limit. To the fullest extent the law allows, any claim relating to the Service must be filed within one (1) year after it arises. If it is not, it is permanently barred.

17. Our content

The Service, including its design, text, logos, graphics, and software, belongs to The Ranch Hand or its licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. You may use it only to use the Service as intended. “The Ranch Hand” name and logo may not be used without our written permission. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, contact us with the details and we will review it.

18. Third-party services and links

The Service links to, and relies on, services run by others, such as social media sites, our hosting provider, and payment processors. Those services have their own terms, and we are not responsible for them.

19. Ending your use

You may stop using the Service, and ask us to delete your account, at any time. We may suspend or end your access at any time and for any reason, including a violation of these Terms. Sections 4 and 7 through 21, and any other terms that by their nature should survive, remain in effect after your account ends.

20. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. When we do, we will change the date at the top of this page. If a change is significant, we will also notify account holders by email or on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the new Terms.

21. General

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any plan terms shown when you buy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, that part will be enforced to the greatest extent possible, and the rest will remain in effect.
If we do not enforce a right, that does not waive it.
You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours, for example in a sale or reorganization of the business.
We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control.
Section headings are for convenience only. “Including” means “including without limitation.”

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent through our contact page.