Build the Checklist Around the Running Walk
A Tennessee Walking Horse is defined by its gait, so the weekly checklist should treat gait quality as a recorded fact, not an impression. Add a weekly row for a deliberate gait check: walk the horse in hand or under saddle on a flat surface and note whether the running walk stayed an even four-beat rhythm, whether the head nod stayed relaxed, and whether the hind feet overstepped as they should. Record the surface and the distance alongside, because a Walking Horse asked to gait on deep arena footing works very differently from one on a firm trail. A dated line each week — even just "even, free, nodding" — gives you a baseline that makes any change obvious the week it happens.
Cover the Daily Basics for a Trail-Working Walker
The daily rows stay familiar: forage morning and evening, water checked at every visit, hooves picked out, and a note of appetite and droppings. Tennessee Walking Horses are often kept as trail and pleasure horses working several days a week, so add a daily post-ride row — legs felt for heat after work, back checked for sweat pattern once the saddle comes off. An even sweat pattern under the saddle panels is a small daily reassurance; a dry patch or ruffled hair in one spot is worth writing down before it becomes a soreness. Note insect protection in the season, since a thin-skinned Walker standing in a summer field can rub a mane or tail bare in a week of unchecked irritation.
Give Back, Saddle and Shoes Their Own Weekly Rows
Once a week, palpate along the back and over the loins with flat fingers and record any flinch, dip or tightness in plain words. Check saddle fit at the same session: clearance over the withers, even contact along the panels, and no bridging at the centre. Walking Horses carry a deep, sloped shoulder, and a saddle that suited the horse in spring may sit differently once condition changes. Shoes deserve a weekly line too — many Walkers work in plain flat shoes, and the checklist should note wear, looseness and the farrier date, plus how the horse moved in the first ride after shoeing. A horse whose gait shortens noticeably after every shoeing is telling you something the record will prove.
Write the Sheet for the People Who Share This Horse
Walking Horses are frequently family and shared horses, so the checklist must speak clearly to whoever rides or feeds next. Spell out which bit and saddle belong to this horse if more than one lives on the yard, and write down the warm-up the horse goes best with — ten minutes of flat walk before asking for the running walk, for example. Record feeding exactly, including any change made for a heavier work week, so a helper does not double the ration on a rest day. If the horse is boarded, pin vet and farrier contacts on the sheet; a checklist kept at the stable should stand alone without relying on your phone being answered.
Read Gait Notes Together Before Changing Anything
Before adjusting tack, shoeing or workload, read several weeks of gait and back notes as one story. A gait that roughens only after long rides points somewhere different from one that was uneven from the mounting block, and your dated rows separate those cases. If the running walk breaks down persistently, the back palpation repeatedly finds soreness, or the horse starts resisting saddling, treat the record as evidence to take to your vet or saddle fitter rather than a problem to train through. Bring the checklist to that appointment — weeks of small, dated observations are far more useful than a general feeling that something changed. When every rider logs to the same page, that story stays complete, which is what KinsLe's Care Teams provides for a Tennessee Walking Horse's week.