The away routine for a Tennessee Walking Horse covers the same ground as any horse's: feed measured, water fresh, shelter dry. What lifts it above a generic list is the breed's defining feature, his gait, and the feet and shoeing that produce it. A carer can complete every feeding check perfectly and still miss the one problem most likely to matter in this stay: a shoe or pad beginning to shift, noticed only when the horse comes in uncomfortable. So build the routine in layers, the standard checks done rigorously, then the Walking Horse checks that watch his movement and his feet every single day.
Feed: steady amounts, no holiday improvisation
Leave his hard feed measured out or clearly scooped, with amounts for worked days and rest days separated if his exercise changes while you are away, because a Walking Horse kept in light work needs his ration matched to that work, not to his show-season workload. Forage should be steady and effectively continuous: hay checked at both visits so he never stands for long stretches with nothing, since long empty gaps are hard on the gut of any horse and a bored, hungry horse in a strange routine frets. Write down where feeds live, the exact order of the morning and evening routine, and a clear instruction that nothing gets substituted or added without a call to you or your named backup.
Water: checked, cleaned, and actually drunk
At every visit the carer should look at the water, not just its level. A trough that is full of stale, fouled water is a failed check even though it reads as done. Stable buckets get emptied, scrubbed, and refilled; field troughs get checked for algae, debris, and, if automatic, that they are genuinely refilling. Note roughly what he drinks if he is stabled, so a change is visible across the stay rather than guessed at the end.
Shelter: dry rest for a horse who needs to lie down
His shelter or stable check covers bedding deep and dry enough that he lies down properly, wet patches dug out daily, and the entrance kept from churning into a slick. Check the shelter after rain for leaks and wind-driven wet spots that a dry inspection hides. Walk his fence line and confirm gates latch, because a gaited horse loose on a road is a serious animal to recover.
The Walking Horse extra: feet and gait, daily
Each morning, before anything else, the carer should watch him walk a few strides in hand on a firm surface and look for evenness: the smooth four-beat rhythm, the head nod, both hind legs stepping through alike. Then pick out and inspect every foot, running a thumb around each shoe for movement, risen clinches, or a pad that has shifted or packed with grit. A loose or shifted shoe on this breed is a same-day farrier call, not a note for your return, and he should not be ridden or worked on it in the meantime. Record the gait note in a word or two each day; a short daily line is what turns a vague worry into a timeline a vet or farrier can use.
One routine, several pairs of hands
Holiday cover for a horse like this usually involves more than one person across a week, and details like pad checks are exactly what evaporates between handovers. KinsLe's Care Teams lets you assign the feed, water, shelter, and shoe checks for your Tennessee Walking Horse to named people, with each completed task marked by a timestamp, so the person arriving this evening can see precisely what this morning's visit already covered.