Hi all, I've been shopping around for months now and haven't had the best luck. I know there's no such thing as a perfect horse and that any SJ will come with some degree of maintenance. After months of searching I got far enough in the process to get a PPE on a mare who ended up coming back with navicular syndrome. I begrudgingly passed on her despite being super smitten with her as I felt it wasn't fair to ask such demanding work of a horse with a degenerative disease long-term.

The search continued...

I eventually found another mare who seems like a decent SJ prospect who was working around 0.95m then had some time off during a big relocation of the owner (from KY to FL). She has since restarted with a trainer and working 5 days a week with pasture turnout most days and stalling at night. According to both the owner and trainer, she's never put a foot wrong or had any issues (but that's if either are to be believed - I might be a bit paranoid). I decided to PPE her and she came back with:

• grade 1 narrowing mid thoracic dorsal spinous processes
• grade 2-3/5 kissing spine in one location mid lumbar dorsal spinous processes

She showed some tenderness during back palpation, but nothing big or dramatic (ears and tail swishing) and she didn't come up lame or sore during any other part of the exam. But still surprising as I would assume the trainer would have noticed some level of discomfort at some point if she wasn't pleased with the palpation - however, I know far too many people who also tend to ignore or simply not pick up on pain signals. I also have met very stoic horses who have learned to grin and bear it and can do so surprisingly well.

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Additional info:

• She's an 8 yo Han. mare
• 16.3/17-ish HH
• No previous injuries or episodes of colic
• The seller is the breeder who got the horse back after the initial owner (first and only) shifted from English to Western and opted for a stocky quarter horse

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Should I be running the other direction? I know PPE's aren't a clear cut pass/fail, but I also can't tell if I'll ever find a horse "clean" enough to move forward with absolute certainty (especially given that there are no certainties with horses). I can't tell if I'm expecting too much or if I should pick "my flavor of risk" if you will...

I know a lot of buying a horse is simply acknowledging your risk tolerance, but I feel like I keep striking out big time and PPE's aren't cheap. I don't have an extravagant budget (low-mid 5 figures), but if I keep striking out with PPE's I probably would have been able to afford a much more expensive horse at this rate.

Am I just having horrible luck? Should I make a move on this current mare (considering she's everything else I want - minus this suboptimal PPE result & knowing that any SJ will require maintenance)? Generally just looking for some guidance as I feel like I'm going a little bit insane atm.

If I pass on this mare, I will likely just give it a rest for a few months and pick up my search later (hopefully more refreshed and optimistic).

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TLDR;

• My horse shopping luck has been... suboptimal
• Show jumping prospect mare came back with mild KS during PPE.
• Sore during back palpation, but didn't show signs of lameness during the rest of the exam
• Not lame or acting out under saddle
• Some folks seem to think KS is a one way ticket to misery... others, not so much
• Would you purchase if in my position?

Edit: Would you say I’m having bad luck or is it typical to go 0 for 2 while looking? Like I said, I know that no horse will ever have a fault free exam (or at least shouldn’t), but I feel like I found 2 horses with a major red flag and that feels like a lot…