Changing vets with a Tennessee Walking Horse involves the usual clinical file plus one thing no general checklist captures: this breed is judged, ridden, and often treated around its gait. A new vet who receives vaccination dates but nothing about how the horse moves, or how he has been shod to move that way, is missing the centre of the horse's history.
The standard clinical file, complete
Send vaccination records with the most recent booster dates, dental history including when the teeth were last floated and any abnormalities noted, and worming history with the pattern of treatment and any egg-count results. Include the current negative test certificate that showing, trail riding at organised events, and boarding yards ask for, and note when it expires. Previous bloodwork, weight records, and any notes on condition matter for a breed that can gain weight easily on good grazing: a recorded trend over several visits tells the new vet far more than a single weigh-tape reading on day one.
If the horse has ever been treated for colic, a respiratory problem, an eye issue, or a skin condition that comes back each season, include the episode notes with dates and what resolved them.
Gait and shoeing history — the Walking Horse layer
This is the section to write with most care. Record how the horse is currently shod: plain shoes, any pads, the shoeing interval, and the farrier's name. Note any history of built-up or weighted shoeing from showing, even if it ended long ago, because hoof balance and any old soreness questions belong in the clinical picture. Describe the gait history in plain terms: whether the running walk has stayed even and four-beat, any period when the horse became pacey or started forging, and any gait evaluation a previous vet or farrier performed, with its findings.
Add previous lameness workups in full — which leg, what the nerve blocks showed, imaging of feet, hocks, or stifles, and the rest or shoeing change that followed. For a gaited horse, a subtle hind-end issue often shows first as a gait change rather than obvious lameness, so a new vet who knows the baseline gait can spot the deviation an owner might ride through for weeks.
Management and handling notes
Finish with the daily picture: feed and forage, supplements, turnout hours, current workload split between trail, schooling, and showing, and any trailering or stabling quirks. Note honestly how the horse behaves for examination — whether he stands for the stethoscope and thermometer quietly, how he takes oral treatments, and whether he needs a companion nearby to settle. A Walking Horse who paces the box at a strange yard will present a raised heart rate that a vet forewarned reads correctly.
One handover, sent ahead
Collect the clinical file, the gait and shoeing notes, and the management page, and send them before the first appointment rather than carrying a carrier bag of loose sheets. The new vet can then use the visit to examine the horse and watch him move, instead of reconstructing his past. KinsLe's Pet Passport holds that whole Tennessee Walking Horse handover — records, shoeing notes, and contacts — in one portable packet ready for the new practice.