Frequently Asked Questions & Policies
Q. How are your horses re-homed?
A. Horses are sold on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis to approved homes.
Please fill out our Matchmaking Application and be sure to let us know if you have a specific horse in mind.
Horses will be listed here on our website first as they come available and have completed their evaluations.
Most of our horses are purchased sight unseen and within 24 hours of listing them.
While we would love for you to come for an in person appointment, please be aware that families can move ahead sight unseen without an appointment and most do.
That being said we will not sell a horse to anyone we feel is not a good match.
Horses are available until we have received payment.
Q. How quickly are horses rehomed?
A. the major majority of our horses find homes within the week of them coming available.
This year the vast majority have been sold within 24-48 hours and sight unseen.
Q. Can I put a deposit down to hold the horse?
A. We do not take deposits to hold horses and work on a first come first serve basis.
If you have an appointment scheduled, a horse can still be rehomed via our sight unseen process at anytime.
Q. Do you take payments, offer trials, trades, refunds or leases?
A. We do not take payments, offer trials, trades, refunds or leases of any kind.
Q. Where do the horses come from?
A. We frequently get horses from local auctions, the racetrack, have horses surrendered to us, and we occasionally will take on personal project horses.
Q. Do you take owner surrendered horses?
A. At Rowley Ranch we can take them on as a case by case basis depending on our space availability and the horse.
If we are not able to take them in, we are happy to recommend other local rescues to surrender to.
Please see our Surrender Page for more information.
Q. Can I schedule a pre-purchase exam?
A. Pre-purchase exams are always welcomed on all horses.
We try to be as thorough and honest as possible in our description of the horses and any known injuries or prior medical history.
You are more than welcome to schedule that with a local veterinarian (we can provide a list) or your own vet.
PPEs must be completed prior to the equine leaving the property.
A Note About PPE's for the first time horse buyer
Some things to consider when scheduling a PPE -
PPE’s are not pass or fail - they are just how the horse is today to get a base line.
We like to use them to establish if a horse is suitable for the intended purpose that the family wants to use the horse for.
For example - a pleasure riding horse will have different requirements than say a 5 Star eventing horse.
It is best to keep in mind that very few horses are “perfect”, so do not be alarmed if the vet finds something during the exam.
The vet is hired by you to give you all of the information about a horse's physical health on that day.
We try be as honest and transparent about the history of a horse as we possibly can and will let you know if we think anything will come up during the exam, so as to prepare you.
The exam results are paid for by yourself and are confidential to us.
If you do not decide to proceed with a horse, we appreciate the information, but it is absolutely not required and is at your own discretion as you paid for the exam.
Q. If I schedule a PPE do I have first right to the horse?
A. We encourage buyers to schedule exams as quickly as possible and will try our best to help accommodate that.
We will only hold horses for 12 hours prior to the exam as a courtesy to the vet and 12 hours after for the family to decide.
Q. Do you have a list of local vets to complete Pre Purchase exams?
Being in Southern Illinois, we unfortunately do not have many large vet practices in our area.
You are welcome to have your own vet come to Rowley Ranch if they can travel to us.
We encourage you to attend your PPE if you can be here in person.
We are also very comfortable handling horse for vetting for customers who can't be present.
They typically will do the flexions, lunging, and a physical exam and then the vet calls to discuss the results before proceeding to anything else.
All Pre Purchase exams must be completed prior to rehoming and before the equine leaves Rowley Ranch.
Here are some local veterinarian who can perform Pre-Purchase Exams:
Dr. Griffin - Southern Illinois Equine Clinic - (618) 942-4242
Dr. Beasley - Beasley Equine Clinic - (618) 273-9898
Dr. Heinrichs - Stone Creek Veterinary - (618) 549-1900
Q. How do you accept payment?
A. We accept payment via Cash, PayPal (friends and family), Venmo, Cash-app, and Wire Transfer.
Q. Do you have any guarantees?
A. Horses are sold as is.
Our horses always have a home with us if your circumstances were to change in the future,
but we do not offer any financial refunds or trades.
Q. Can you provide vaccination certificates?
A. Yes! Our trainer is a Licensed Veterinary Technician and vaccinates and worms all horses.
All horses are vaccinated with a 6-way vaccine (WNV, EE, WE, Tetanus, Influenza, EHV1, and EHV4)
They are all wormed and their feet are trimmed.
Teeth are checked on an annual basis and floating is completed accordingly, unless needing done sooner.
We will need advanced notice if you would like a coggins test as they can take 7 days to complete.
If shipping a horse is arranged we will provide a coggins and health certificate for travel with the required 30 days of travel
Q. When must the horse be picked up by?
We will board a horse for a week at no cost while hauling is arranged.
We have limited space and are unable to hold horses past seven days.
There is a $25 a day fee for any horses that need to stay past the 7 days post purchase.
Hauling is currently at around $2/mile roundtrip (June 2022)
We are happy to help you arrange hauling and only use our list of approved haulers.
Q. How do you accommodate out of state families?
A. We are happy to work with out of state families and realize it’s a big commitment to drive or fly across the country!
We will hold horses for three (3) days once a plane ticket is booked.
This means If you book for Saturday, we will not show the horse Thurs, Fri or Saturday.
We also sell many sight unseen!
Q. What if I want to purchase your horse sight unseen?
A. This is fairly common for us and we are able to accommodate those who wish to purchase this way however we can.
Wether it be more videos, setting up a pre-purchase exam, transport, etc. happy to help!
As this happens quite frequently, it is a fairly painless process!
Q. How do sight unseen/ remote/ virtual rehomings work?
A. The way the remote rehomings work is, we email over the horse's packet which includes the Bill of Sale, vaccine records, and information about Rowley Ranch.
Our Bill of Sale requires that the equine will never be sold at an auction, at a sale barn, or raced in a horse race.
From there, we accept the rehoming fee payment.
Every horse always has a home with us at Rowley Ranch, if your circumstances were to ever change and you needed a place for them to go.
(we do not offer refunds or trades of any kind)
All of our horses are first come first serve, so once we receive payment then a horse is officially moved to unavailable.
I then can help arrange hauling and gather quotes. We work with a few different companies who all give us wonderful discounted rates.
Hauling is typically $1.50 per mile and Rowley Ranch, located in Marion, IL.
We will hold the horses for a week at no cost while shipping is arranged but after that it is $25 a day until horse is picked up.
We have a 7 day pick up policy after your payment has been made.
We have limited space and are unable to hold horses past seven days.
There is a $25 a day fee for anything that needs to stay past the 7 days post purchase.
Q. Is Rowley Ranch a Non-Profit 501c3 Organization or Charity?
Rowley Ranch LLC is privately owned and has submitted documentation to become a legal non-profit 501c3 entity and is currently waiting on determination.
We are not currently a non-profit organization or charity and any donations are not tax-deductible at this time.
Q. How are your horses re-homed?
A. Horses are sold on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE basis to approved homes.
Please fill out our Matchmaking Application and be sure to let us know if you have a specific horse in mind.
Horses will be listed here on our website first as they come available and have completed their evaluations.
Most of our horses are purchased sight unseen and within 24 hours of listing them.
While we would love for you to come for an in person appointment, please be aware that families can move ahead sight unseen without an appointment and most do.
That being said we will not sell a horse to anyone we feel is not a good match.
Horses are available until we have received payment.
Q. How quickly are horses rehomed?
A. the major majority of our horses find homes within the week of them coming available.
This year the vast majority have been sold within 24-48 hours and sight unseen.
Q. Can I put a deposit down to hold the horse?
A. We do not take deposits to hold horses and work on a first come first serve basis.
If you have an appointment scheduled, a horse can still be rehomed via our sight unseen process at anytime.
Q. Do you take payments, offer trials, trades, refunds or leases?
A. We do not take payments, offer trials, trades, refunds or leases of any kind.
Q. Where do the horses come from?
A. We frequently get horses from local auctions, the racetrack, have horses surrendered to us, and we occasionally will take on personal project horses.
Q. Do you take owner surrendered horses?
A. At Rowley Ranch we can take them on as a case by case basis depending on our space availability and the horse.
If we are not able to take them in, we are happy to recommend other local rescues to surrender to.
Please see our Surrender Page for more information.
Q. Can I schedule a pre-purchase exam?
A. Pre-purchase exams are always welcomed on all horses.
We try to be as thorough and honest as possible in our description of the horses and any known injuries or prior medical history.
You are more than welcome to schedule that with a local veterinarian (we can provide a list) or your own vet.
PPEs must be completed prior to the equine leaving the property.
A Note About PPE's for the first time horse buyer
Some things to consider when scheduling a PPE -
PPE’s are not pass or fail - they are just how the horse is today to get a base line.
We like to use them to establish if a horse is suitable for the intended purpose that the family wants to use the horse for.
For example - a pleasure riding horse will have different requirements than say a 5 Star eventing horse.
It is best to keep in mind that very few horses are “perfect”, so do not be alarmed if the vet finds something during the exam.
The vet is hired by you to give you all of the information about a horse's physical health on that day.
We try be as honest and transparent about the history of a horse as we possibly can and will let you know if we think anything will come up during the exam, so as to prepare you.
The exam results are paid for by yourself and are confidential to us.
If you do not decide to proceed with a horse, we appreciate the information, but it is absolutely not required and is at your own discretion as you paid for the exam.
Q. If I schedule a PPE do I have first right to the horse?
A. We encourage buyers to schedule exams as quickly as possible and will try our best to help accommodate that.
We will only hold horses for 12 hours prior to the exam as a courtesy to the vet and 12 hours after for the family to decide.
Q. Do you have a list of local vets to complete Pre Purchase exams?
Being in Southern Illinois, we unfortunately do not have many large vet practices in our area.
You are welcome to have your own vet come to Rowley Ranch if they can travel to us.
We encourage you to attend your PPE if you can be here in person.
We are also very comfortable handling horse for vetting for customers who can't be present.
They typically will do the flexions, lunging, and a physical exam and then the vet calls to discuss the results before proceeding to anything else.
All Pre Purchase exams must be completed prior to rehoming and before the equine leaves Rowley Ranch.
Here are some local veterinarian who can perform Pre-Purchase Exams:
Dr. Griffin - Southern Illinois Equine Clinic - (618) 942-4242
Dr. Beasley - Beasley Equine Clinic - (618) 273-9898
Dr. Heinrichs - Stone Creek Veterinary - (618) 549-1900
Q. How do you accept payment?
A. We accept payment via Cash, PayPal (friends and family), Venmo, Cash-app, and Wire Transfer.
Q. Do you have any guarantees?
A. Horses are sold as is.
Our horses always have a home with us if your circumstances were to change in the future,
but we do not offer any financial refunds or trades.
Q. Can you provide vaccination certificates?
A. Yes! Our trainer is a Licensed Veterinary Technician and vaccinates and worms all horses.
All horses are vaccinated with a 6-way vaccine (WNV, EE, WE, Tetanus, Influenza, EHV1, and EHV4)
They are all wormed and their feet are trimmed.
Teeth are checked on an annual basis and floating is completed accordingly, unless needing done sooner.
We will need advanced notice if you would like a coggins test as they can take 7 days to complete.
If shipping a horse is arranged we will provide a coggins and health certificate for travel with the required 30 days of travel
Q. When must the horse be picked up by?
We will board a horse for a week at no cost while hauling is arranged.
We have limited space and are unable to hold horses past seven days.
There is a $25 a day fee for any horses that need to stay past the 7 days post purchase.
Hauling is currently at around $2/mile roundtrip (June 2022)
We are happy to help you arrange hauling and only use our list of approved haulers.
Q. How do you accommodate out of state families?
A. We are happy to work with out of state families and realize it’s a big commitment to drive or fly across the country!
We will hold horses for three (3) days once a plane ticket is booked.
This means If you book for Saturday, we will not show the horse Thurs, Fri or Saturday.
We also sell many sight unseen!
Q. What if I want to purchase your horse sight unseen?
A. This is fairly common for us and we are able to accommodate those who wish to purchase this way however we can.
Wether it be more videos, setting up a pre-purchase exam, transport, etc. happy to help!
As this happens quite frequently, it is a fairly painless process!
Q. How do sight unseen/ remote/ virtual rehomings work?
A. The way the remote rehomings work is, we email over the horse's packet which includes the Bill of Sale, vaccine records, and information about Rowley Ranch.
Our Bill of Sale requires that the equine will never be sold at an auction, at a sale barn, or raced in a horse race.
From there, we accept the rehoming fee payment.
Every horse always has a home with us at Rowley Ranch, if your circumstances were to ever change and you needed a place for them to go.
(we do not offer refunds or trades of any kind)
All of our horses are first come first serve, so once we receive payment then a horse is officially moved to unavailable.
I then can help arrange hauling and gather quotes. We work with a few different companies who all give us wonderful discounted rates.
Hauling is typically $1.50 per mile and Rowley Ranch, located in Marion, IL.
We will hold the horses for a week at no cost while shipping is arranged but after that it is $25 a day until horse is picked up.
We have a 7 day pick up policy after your payment has been made.
We have limited space and are unable to hold horses past seven days.
There is a $25 a day fee for anything that needs to stay past the 7 days post purchase.
Q. Is Rowley Ranch a Non-Profit 501c3 Organization or Charity?
Rowley Ranch LLC is privately owned and has submitted documentation to become a legal non-profit 501c3 entity and is currently waiting on determination.
We are not currently a non-profit organization or charity and any donations are not tax-deductible at this time.
