A week away with a Tennessee Walking Horse is arranged around a decision most horse owners never face: who, if anyone, rides him. His running walk is a schooled, balanced gait, and a week of being ridden like a trotting horse, or worked on a shoeing package nobody is checking, can hand you back a horse who needs patient re-schooling. The basics matter as much as for any horse: measured feed, fresh water, dry shelter, secure fencing. But the arrangement stands or falls on the gait plan and the foot plan, so settle those first, in writing, with a carer you have watched handle and, if relevant, ride him.
Decide the exercise week honestly
There are two good versions of his week. In the first, a carer who genuinely rides gaited horses keeps him in his normal work: warmed up properly, asked for the running walk on a balanced rein, cooled down thoroughly. In the second, a competent horse person who does not ride gaited gives him a rest week: turnout, in-hand walking, grooming, and no ridden schooling at all. Both protect him. The bad version is the middle one, a willing rider without gait knowledge having a go. Choose deliberately, write the choice down, and if he has the rest week, step his feed down to match the reduced work so he does not spend seven idle days on a working ration.
Feed, water, and shelter for seven days
Portion hard feed in advance where possible, labelled by day, or leave the scoop marked and amounts written. Forage should be checked at both daily visits so he never stands long with nothing, and water judged for freshness, not just presence, at every check. Walk his turnout fencing with the carer beforehand, confirm his companions, and note his rug routine and what weather changes it. None of this is exotic, but across seven days the standard of these basics is what his condition reflects when you walk back into the yard.
The daily foot and gait check
This is the section to write in capital letters. Every morning, the carer watches him walk in hand on firm ground and notes whether the four-beat rhythm, head nod, and even overstride are as they should be on both reins. Every day, each foot is picked out and each shoe checked by hand for movement, risen clinches, and, if he wears pads, any shift or grit packed underneath. A loose or shifted shoe ends ridden work immediately and earns the farrier a call that day. A gait that has gone pacey, short, or uneven without a shoeing explanation is reported to you the same day, because in a Walking Horse the gait is a health instrument as well as a pleasure.
People: carer, backup, vet, farrier
Leave your vet's number with out-of-hours details, your farrier's number given unusual prominence, and written authority for the carer to summon either and approve emergency attendance without reaching you first. Your backup person should know the breed well enough to assess a gait or shoeing worry by phone or in person. Agree a short daily report: feed eaten, water, work done or rest day, gait note in a few words, shoes sound. By day four that report is a trend line, and trends are what let you and your professionals act early rather than at the homecoming.
Everything the carer needs, in one place
His exercise decision, his shoeing instructions, and his contacts protect him only if the carer can reach them at the stable door. KinsLe's Care Pass gives your Tennessee Walking Horse's carer temporary, clear access to his routine, shoeing details, and key contacts for the week you travel, so the plan you settled together is the plan that runs, at both ends of every day.