The first half hour: cool out, water, watch
Unload somewhere quiet, walk the horse in hand for a few minutes so stiff muscles loosen and you can see how he is moving, and let him roll or graze if there is a safe place for it. Offer water straight away and actually watch him drink — a bucket hung up and assumed empty later tells you nothing. Some horses need the water offered a second and third time over the first hour before they take a proper drink, especially if the journey's water tasted strange to them.
If he travelled rugged or bandaged, strip everything off once he has cooled so you can see and feel the whole horse, and check where tack, travel boots and tail bandages sat for rubs or swelling. A horse that arrives sweated up should be walked and sponged or rugged appropriately until his breathing and skin are back to normal before any of the closer checks mean anything.
Legs: feel all four, compare the pairs
Run your hands down every leg from knee and hock to fetlock, feeling for heat, swelling, filling around the tendons and any new lump, cut or scuff from the loading or the journey. Compare front with front and hind with hind — a leg that is warmer or more filled than its pair is a finding even when the horse seems sound. Pick out all four feet and check shoes for shifts or risen clenches, because a sprung shoe caught now is a farrier visit, while one caught in three days can be a torn hoof wall.
Travelling asks a lot of legs: the horse braces constantly against the vehicle's movement, so filled legs after a long trip are common and usually walk off by morning. Heat with swelling, a digital pulse you can feel bounding, or any lameness at walk or trot-up is different — that combination earns a cold-hose, rest, and a phone call to the vet the same day rather than a wait-and-see.
Temperature, breathing and hydration
Take his temperature once he has settled; a healthy resting horse sits roughly between 37 and 38.5 degrees Celsius, and knowing your own horse's normal matters more than any chart — many owners take a resting temperature on an ordinary day for exactly this reason. A temperature above his normal range after travel, especially with dullness or reduced appetite, is a recognised early sign of travel-related respiratory trouble and should be reported to your vet that day, not watched for a week.
Check breathing at rest: it should be slow and easy, with no effort at the flank, no noise, and no cough or nasal discharge beyond a clear trace. For hydration, look at how eagerly he drinks, pinch the skin on the neck or shoulder to see it spring back promptly, and check the gums are moist. A horse that is off his water, with tacky gums and slow skin return, needs fluids encouraged and a vet's advice if he does not pick up within the hour.
Appetite, droppings and the morning-after check
Over the first evening, note whether he tucks into hay and feed with his usual enthusiasm and count droppings in the box — gut movement is the clearest report on how the journey treated him. No droppings across several hours, a horse picking at feed he normally wolfs, pawing, looking at his flanks or lying down repeatedly are the early colic picture, and travel is one of its recognised triggers: that is a vet call immediately, not in the morning.
Then check him again the next morning before turnout or work: legs walked down or still filled, temperature normal, breakfast eaten, droppings passed. Most post-journey stiffness and filling resolves overnight; anything that has not, or has worsened, goes on the vet list. For a question that remains after the morning check, put a follow-up question to KinsLe's Kinny; he answers using the KinsLe Answers library.