Troy Flaharty was raised in a family of Western performance horse trainers. In high school, he roped calves and competed in rodeo, leading to a rodeo scholarship to Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas. While attending college, he was introduced to bit and spur making at a two-day, fundamental bit-making workshop. After college, he rodeoed, cowboyed, ranched, and trained horses in Kansas and Oklahoma, all the while making usable bits and spurs for cowboys, ropers barrel racers, and horsemen.
In 2010, Flaharty was exposed to the artistic aspects of bit and spur making while attending a TCAA workshop at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. He entered the TCAA Emerging Artist Competition in 2015, and following year received a TCAA fellowship. Flaharty became a TCAA member in 2023. He resides in Hico, Texas, with his daughter, Rio Belle.