A week is long enough for a Quarter Horse's routine to matter and short enough that owners are tempted to improvise it. Do not. Seven days of guessed feeding can change his condition, seven days without exercise can leave a fit horse fresh and difficult, and seven days is exactly the span in which a small problem, a slightly filled leg, a horse eating a little less each day, becomes a real one if nobody is tracking the trend. The arrangement to make has three parts: the right setting, a routine transferred properly rather than described casually, and people: a carer, a backup, and professionals who know they may be called.
Home sitter or boarding: decide by the horse
A sitter at home, living in or visiting twice daily, keeps your Quarter Horse in his own stable, field, herd, and feed room, which suits horses who fret, go off their feed, or stop drinking when moved. Full livery at a good yard moves the risk the other way: professional staff, facilities, and depth of cover if one person is ill, set against the stress of travel and strange surroundings. If he has boarded happily before and the yard is one you have walked, met staff at, and checked feeding and turnout at, livery is a strong option.
Feed and exercise: written for seven specific days
Portion his hard feed in advance where you can, labelled by day and feed, or leave the scoop marked and the amounts written for work days and rest days. A week away often means reduced exercise, so say explicitly whether the ration steps down, because feeding a working ration to an idle horse for a week is how you come home to a handful. The exercise plan needs the same precision: what work he should get, who is authorised to ride him and to what level, what happens if the arena is unusable, and what boots and rugs go with each activity. Turnout arrangements, which field, which companions, how many hours, should be demonstrated in person, since the details that prevent injuries live in gate order and herd dynamics, not in a written summary.
The handover visit: do it, do not describe it
Before the week begins, have the carer run the whole routine with you present: catch, lead, groom, pick out feet, tack up if they will ride, make up feeds, rug, and turn out. Agree the communication rhythm: a daily photo and short report suits most owners, covering appetite, water, droppings, exercise done, and anything unusual. This single visit is the difference between a carer executing your routine and a carer inventing a similar one, and for a horse in work the difference shows within the week.
Vet, farrier, and emergency authority
Leave your vet's number with the out-of-hours route, your farrier's number, and written authority for the carer to call either and approve emergency attendance without reaching you first, confirmed with the practice in advance where possible. Note his normal resting vital signs, any lameness history and its management, and the signs that should trigger a call: colic behaviour, feed refused, a hot or filled leg, a lost shoe with nails up, breathing raised at rest. Add your transport arrangement in case he needs to travel, your local backup person, and where his records are kept. A week is long enough that the carer should never have to guess a threshold.
One document for the whole week
Assemble all of it, routine, exercise, contacts, thresholds, before you pack a single bag. KinsLe's Care Pass gives your Quarter Horse's carer temporary, clear access to his routine and key details for the week you are away, so whether he stays home or boards, the person holding the lead rope is working from the plan you built, not reconstructing it from memory at the first problem.