A Routine Built Around an Unhurried Horse
Tennessee Walking Horses are valued for a smooth running walk and a generally willing, people-oriented temperament, but a relief carer's notes should still remove every guess. Open with arrival and turnout: the field, the companions this horse knows, the order fields are caught in, and whether this horse walks in hand quietly or becomes tall and looky when routines change or other horses are already galloping. A Walking Horse stands taller than many breeds a carer may have handled, so say plainly how you lead, where you stand, and that rushing this horse through gateways tends to produce the opposite of speed.
Include any in-hand exercise you expect to continue in your absence, described honestly. If the horse is simply turned out and not ridden, write that no riding or gait work is part of the cover, because a well-meaning carer who tries to school the running walk without knowing this horse's cues and shoeing can undo good habits and strain soft tissue.
Feeding a Tall Gaited Horse Without Fuss
List feeds by measure and storage place, with soaking instructions written out, and hay by net or weight with its location. Walking Horses in light work are often straightforward keepers, but tall horses eat tall-horse quantities, and a carer used to ponies will underfeed while a carer used to competition horses may overfeed concentrates, so your measures, not impressions, should rule. State feed times and the gap you keep between feeding and any exercise, and note any feed-room security, since a horse of this height can reach shelves and lids shorter horses cannot.
Water instructions should name the trough, the stable bucket arrangement, and the check for a drinker a tall horse drains quickly after turnout on a hot day. Add electrolytes or salt only if that is already your established routine, described in the wording you use at home, and tell the carer not to start anything new in your absence, however well intentioned.
Feet, Shoes and the Long Mane and Tail
Give feet their own heading. Many Tennessee Walking Horses are shod in a style that supports the gait, sometimes with a package or pad arrangement that a relief carer must never attempt to tighten, trim or interpret. Your note should say: pick out feet daily around the shoe, check that each shoe feels firm and that no nails have risen, look for a shoe shifted sideways, and phone you and the farrier the same day if a shoe is loose, twisted or off, keeping the horse in rather than turning out on hard ground.
Grooming notes can stay practical: a long, thick mane and tail tangle quickly, so specify a brief daily finger-through and pick-out of shavings rather than aggressive brushing, where the detangler you already use is kept if you use one, and how the tail is put up or left down in muddy weather according to your own habit. Note rug fit over a higher wither and a longer back, which rug belongs to which weather, and checking that a neck cover or shoulder does not rub this horse's upright front.
Contacts and Clear Call Thresholds
Close with the contact ladder: you first for management questions, the vet practice for health concerns, and the farrier for shoe problems, each with numbers and the yard address written out for a carer who may need to direct someone at the gate. Define urgent signs for this horse in observation language: off feed, repeated pawing or rolling, laboured breathing, a hot swollen leg, sudden unevenness at the walk, a wound, or being found tangled in fencing or a rug strap all mean veterinary advice promptly, then a call to you.
Ask for a short end-of-day confirmation covering turnout, feeds given, feet and shoes checked, and anything unusual noticed at the evening check. KinsLe supports that temporary cover neatly with Care Pass, which lets your relief carer open this Walking Horse's feeding measures, shoeing warnings and contact order in one clear place for the days you are away.