I understand that the horse market right now is pretty awful for a buyer… And we all know that no horse is perfect…But I encourage you to hold out for something that at least has a more predictable recovery. Even a well rehabbed and “proven to stay sound in work” soft tissue injury would be way ahead of the list in my book.
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Before making a decision, yes or no, have you and your vet discuss with the vet who did the surgery. What do the medical experts see as mare’s future soundness prognosis.
It doesn’t sound like the symptoms were severe but the seller had behavioral issues and was ruling out physical causes and discovered the KS issue.
I assume you would X-ray any prospects. So you might find physical issues in any candidate and then weigh that horse’s future soundness the same as this mare.
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Join the many FB groups oriented around kissing spine. I’ve been part of two, one for five years and the other for nearly ten.
Personally, I’ve seen very few truly sound horses post bone shave. They still look tight and uncomfortable to me even a few years down the road. There’s lots of videos in both of the major FB groups (Horses with kissing spine & Pferdes mit Kissing Spines) where you can see post-op behavior and movement.
If the horse was really nice and a bargain I might consider it — but these horses need — and I genuinely mean NEED — full turnout and the best farriery care possible to remain comfortable.
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A huge thanks to all who have commented, this is exactly the kind of conversation I was hoping to have. I should be able to see this horse next week in person and will update the group. I’m going to join the KS groups on Facebook as well, that was a great suggestion.
From a risk tolerance perspective, though I am a boarder it’s not the end of the world to retire a horse, I have a gelding who is close to retiring and I live in an area with many affordable, quality options and financially it wouldn’t inhibit me. That said, boarding a pasture horse for two decades isn’t an optimal outcome at all. I’m in a phase now of building out my little string and am very likely going to purchase a foal in Q1, hopefully my young mare will be going at second in the next 18 months and as my gelding retires I’d love a green pea to ride whilst the foal matures so that I’ll have two in active work, then three in four years when the foal is ready to come into work. Because this mare could be had for very little, and she’s an absolutely fabulous mare with impeccable breeding (so my type), it’s tempting to take a risk on her at this low price point and minimize the total costs for the next two - the green pea and the foal.
For the people who aren’t totally averse to this idea, I’d love to get a sense of how you might reason though this situation, and specifically what information you’d be looking for to aid your decision. As of right now I’m leaning towards “pass,” but knowing myself to be a cockeyed optimist and seeing the adorably familiar expression on this old soul of a young mare there is strong a chance that once I meet her I may need to make a real decision here and it will not be easy either way.
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If you like her at trial, pay for your vet to examine the x rays and consult with the attending vet. Be very clear what you want to do with the horse: ride x days a week, train to x level, compete at x level. Since it is a well bred mare, how does the KS impact her as a breeding prospect for you or a buyer.
Then ask for their recommendations.
If you then move ahead, do a thorough PPE. This horse could have OTHER issues. Don’t let KS lead you to miss another problem.
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As the owner of a KS horse who has had surgery I wouldn’t be completely opposed to considering another. Things is want to know include what the symptoms were that led to the diagnosis/surgery, type of surgery, before and after radiographs, what rehab process was used and how much work the horse has done since and if any symptoms continued or lingered.
I’m lucky to have my surgeon/sports medicine vet who is very familiar with KS to advise me. I personally would strongly prefer a horse who had bone shave surgery vs. lig snip. A benefit of catching and correcting the KS early in this horse may be that they didn’t develop strong behavioral associations. Sometimes if they’ve been working with KS pain for a longer time it’s harder to rebuild trust that certain activities no longer hurt.
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You seem to be organized and thoughtful – two of my favorite human qualities !!! 
IMO you are on a good life path. Keep doing what you are doing. 
Being optimistic is a good thing. It gets things done!
I mean this as seriously as it can be said:
Do.
Not.
Go see her.
If you are seriously considering a pass.
You will not get out alive.
I mean, you will not get out without a horse.
I get this, I also cannot look at those large brown eyes, seeing that innocent earnestness that is the whole reason I’m unable to separate my brain & life from horses, and not become instantly attached.
If some insane pull draws you to the mare anyway, for god’s sake take a friend. One that can stand up to you, take you aside and say “this horse does not need YOU to save her, she will be FINE if you do NOT buy her”.
I passed on one that I still think about. So perfect, the most gorgeous eyes and open expression. I immediately knew what his barn name and show name would be. But a soundness issue that would derail my horse goals. The friend got me to look away from those eyes and at the future. Someone else bought him for a trail horse, a good future plan for him, so he got a good landing without me.
OK on that! Go live out your well-thought-out life plan and good luck to you! Hope you will come back and post in 2 years, 5 years and 10 years, mare or no mare, and tell us how things are working out for you. Since reading your game plan, now I’m interested in your story.
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I have a horse who had KS surgery (the bone shave) a couple years ago with great success, so it’s not an unknown for me. My regular vet (who is also the surgeon that did my guy’s bone shave) and I have had a number of conversations about KS horses.
I’m of the perspective that if I looked at a horse and loved it, and then found out during the PPE that it had KS, if my vet thought it was a good candidate for surgery and the sellers and I could come to a price that accounted for the cost of surgery and my risk, I’d probably go ahead with the purchase. If I looked at one that had already had the surgery and wasn’t showing any residual behavioral or physical issues, it wouldn’t bother me at all (assuming my vet was happy with the results).
Like you, I board so it’s not a no risk proposition. But I’m fortunate that if I had to retire one, that wouldn’t keep me from being able to buy a new one. They all have something, it’s just a matter of whether it’s a something you can live with or not 
.
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Thanks again to all who commented, and in particular OverandOnward, your kind words definitely brought a smile to my face and I had to laugh at how perfectly you nailed my buying psychology 
I figured I’d update this group since so many of you were so kind of share advice. After a couple weeks of back and forth and postponing my flight due to weather, the trainer did a bit of an about face, saying that my riding isn’t good enough for this horse. It was quite out of the blue as she watched my little schooling videos weeks ago and still seemed keen on having me try the mare. Instead, she pitched me another green mare of a type that I also like who - get this - also had KS surgery. I find that quite odd honestly, what the heck is going on at the breeder. So she tells me that this mare is much more suitable to my terrible riding and tries to get my focus shifted in that direction. My hunch here is she’s trying to buy time to scrape together money to buy the original mare. That’s actually totally fine, I support that, but I found my interaction with her today quite rude and I’m pondering whether or not to let the breeder know she’s doing a poor job representing the horses. Ironically, her riding is pretty mediocre as well, she probably wouldn’t be able to establish a business LA/SF based on the videos I saw. So, though I actually am interested in both mares, I don’t think this trainer is an honest broker so I’m pulling the plug on that leg of the visit and am going to pivot to other prospects that have come up in that area.
But, on the upside, I have learned a ton from this thread and from the Facebook groups that were suggested here. Huge thanks to everyone who contributed, you have furthered my education. I have come away from this being actually quite open to horses who have had the bone shave surgery, not open to horses who had the lig snip, but also with a much firmer understanding around which questions to ask about the surgery and rehab process.
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@NSC_Los_Angeles, thank you for coming back with an update. So many times we are left hanging - I appreciate your post!!!
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@NSC_Los_Angeles Good for you for deciding not to use this trainer as a broker. People often wait far too long to move on when they have a feeling that something isn’t right.
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I don’t think it would be out of bounds to contact the breeder and share an objective account of your experience. You could say you like her horses but are dropping consideration because of the trainer interaction.
Who knows? Maybe the breeder has another interesting horse at home or another trainer?
Also, wonder if ALL this trainer’s horses have KS diagnosis or just the horses from this breeder?
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This is only JMHO, but I think KS also comes from being ridden hollow. If all the horses from the same place or instructor have KS it could be breeding or riding or both.
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I would normally agree but these babies are all so young I think this must be a congenital defect. The symptoms showed up within a few weeks of being started. It’s a bit of a baffler though, I find the whole thing to be a bit hmm…
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I did give it some thought and decided not to call the breeder. Though they deserve to know, I just feel really hesitant to put anyone’s livelihood in jeopardy during these pandemic times. The trainer is young and just starting out, she mainly does up down lessons and then is trying to get into dressage. She wasn’t very well spoken on the phone and seemed a little course. She said, “you have to ride this horse really intentionally from the leg, which you won’t be able to do probably” and she struggled with “intentionally.” I felt like she was trying to remember things she’d been told in a lesson and regurgitate that back to me as a rationale for not showing me the horse. If I were this breeder I would want to know, but I feel uncomfortable tattling on her. There’s a sort of “Silicon Valley posh wanker punching down on scrappy uneducated kid” socioeconomic dynamic here that makes me hesitant to be the villain.
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There’s a breeder (more the hunter market) with two broodmares whose offspring seem to always have KS and that hasn’t stopped her one bit. So at any given time she has 4-5 young sales horses with KS. I don’t understand continuing to breed these mares… but what do I know? It must work for the breeder or she wouldn’t do it. Put me off her program ENTIRELY even though she has other broodmares and the other foals are nice.
I would not report back to the breeder that you found the seller kind of weird. It doesn’t sound like the seller has done anything objectively wrong/dishonest and surely the breeder talks with her and can assess the communication style. The seller doesn’t think you are right for this horse. Oh well. You don’t want this horse anyway. I’d just let that whole situation be at this point.
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She was initially very keen on showing me the horse, said she watched my videos and thought I was the best potential buyer she’d seen so far, I’d be a great fit, etc. Along the way something changed (likely she saw the potential to buy the horse herself, which is fine), and she changed her tune with me. It wasn’t high integrity conduct, but I’m not comfortable going back to the breeder as I don’t care enough and I don’t want her to lose economic opportunity because I sense she really needs it (all of which I already stated clearly above).
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or perhaps the horse in not sound right now
or perhaps she has read this thread
however it happened, you were wise to not invest. With info on genetic link this is not a horse to pin hopes on
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There was nothing about this thread that would have put her off, I had high praise for her honest initial presentation of the horse and shared that here. If the horse isn’t sound, she should have said that.
My friend got a great deal on an imported horse because it had KS. Has never shown a bit on symptoms. She got a $75k for next to nothing and is showing the 1.20 on him.
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