Fran Smith earned her certification from the Society of Master Saddlers in 1985, and began her career as Master Saddler and head of the repair department for the Libertyville Saddle Shop. In 1991 she opened Smith's Tack Repair in the Louisville area. Since she is qualified to build a saddle from the ground up, she can do almost any repair a saddle might need. Fran will work on any quality brand of saddle. While she primarily works on dressage saddles, she also works on eventing, jumping, and saddle seat saddles. You will not be able to tell her work from the original, except that hers may look better than the original. Fran's work is trusted by top riders nationwide.

At these clinics, Fran will be evaluating the fit of the saddle for both horse and rider, adjusting flocking to improve fit, and doing repairs and maintenance such as replacing billets, doing total reflocks, or replacing the seat or flaps.  She will be able to make some adjustments on site; for more involved work, she will need to take the saddle back to her shop and ship it back to the owner upon completion. 

Fran also works with Borné Saddlery (www.bornesaddlery.com) as one of their saddle fitters. Borné saddles are available through her, and she normally has a few with her for those interested in trying one. It is advisable to set this up in advance so that Fran can get an idea of the conformation of the horse's back, which will allow her to bring an appropriate saddle.

Please see our Calendar page for clinic dates.

For more information, please contact Ann Belth, (812) 935-6416 or annbelth@half-haltfarm.com.