Kim Samitore works inside the new Tack It Up Boutique in Central Point.

In the more than three decades that Central Point resident Kim Samitore has spent learning about and teaching horsemanship, she’s honed her skills in a slew of other trades along the way.

From working as a graphic designer and photographer to running an art studio, Samitore, 43, teases that all those other gigs were simply focused on financially supporting her “horse habit.”

Owner of the newly opened Tack it Up Boutique, Samitore’s newest business venture was a leap of faith. She didn’t aspire to run a tack shop as she navigated the pandemic and job loss, but the community’s sudden lack of a place to buy tack and to have horse blankets washed and mended — after the Horse Blanket tack shop closed its doors in June — coincided with a crossroads in her own life.

“The last three years have a been a roller coaster, but this last year has been really hard. … I thought 2020 was hard, but 2023 takes the cake,” Samitore said.

Samitore opened a “sip and paint” business, Art 4 Joy, in 2015. The business followed the trend of art classes, attended by groups of friends who could sip wine while being taught to paint. She gradually offered a list of art classes through the city of Central Point Parks and Recreation Department, in addition to children’s art classes and art-themed birthday parties in her studio.

Not long after moving her business to Medford in 2019, the pandemic forced her to close her doors off Biddle Road in mid-2020. A longtime horse trainer and riding instructor, Samitore said the pandemic and smoke from summer fires put a kibosh on those pursuits, as well.

While she maintained her art classes — mostly online and through the city — on the side, she was hired as a page designer for the Mail Tribune. Hoping to increase her art offerings once more, she reopened her Central Point location at Fourth and Oak streets in June 2022, but a decline in signups continued. In January 2023, she was second-guessing the art studio, and then the Mail Tribune abruptly closed.

“I felt like no matter how hard I worked, or how much overtime I put in, I just felt like I was drowning,” she said.

In June, the Horse Blanket tack shop in Central Point closed its doors. 

When Samitore saw her fellow equestrians scrambling to figure out where to drop off dirty horse blankets or purchase tack, she saw an opportunity.

“When I came up with the idea for this business, my husband and entire extended family were eight or nine hours away (on vacation) in Scotland. It just popped into my head, and it made a lot of sense,” Samitore said. Her husband, Matt, is public works director for Central Point.

“I sat down with a girlfriend and client of mine and was like, ‘What do you think of this idea?’ She looked at me and she said, ‘I think you should do it!’”

Almost immediately, paint brushes, canvases and art supplies made way for saddles, halters and other equestrian supplies. Slowly but steadily, piles of horse blankets appeared in need of washing and mending.

Samitore opened at the end of July and has been gradually building inventory. In addition to consignment sales and blanket wash and repair, she offers a slew of design and print services. Making custom items such as T-shirts and hats for equestrian teams and local businesses was a natural fit for the long-time graphic designer.

“It’s something I’m really good at, and it’s one-stop shopping. Whether you need a shirt for your uncle that’s turning 50 or you need 100 shirts for your staff, I do all of that,” she said.

In addition to her shop, Samitore said she’s been able to find better work-life balance and spend more time with family and her horses. She still offers horse training and riding lessons. 

“Everybody who comes in wants something different,” Samitore said.

“Sometimes it’s a mom who comes in and her kid got a new horse, and she needs everything. … The other day I had somebody call and ask if I knew a good farrier.”

Her goal is to help wherever she’s able.

“I want to feel like this is the Cheers Bar of tack shops. Fifteen years ago, you’d walk into the Horse Blanket and … a bunch of horse people would be sitting around … and they’d be having a roundtable discussion about what was going on in town or whatever we were all talking about that day,” Samitore said.

“People already come in here just to talk about their horse or whatever they have going on. I had a cowboy in Texas come in, and he was telling me cowboy stories. … People come in to bring their items, but they come in just to talk.”

Customers come from around the region, including Redding and Klamath Falls.

“I want to be successful, and I want to see everyone else be successful in whatever they’re doing too,” she said.

“I still don’t know if I’m out of the woods yet. There are challenges with this new business, too, but I hope that this one will be around for a long time. … I love our horse community, and I want to do anything that helps.” 

Tack it Up Boutique is located at 425 Oak St. Business hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Visit online at tackitupboutique.com/shop or facebook.com/tackitupboutique