Rosalind 'Roz' Harker

Rosalind 'Roz' Harker, 68, born in Bend, Oregon, raised on a 320-acre cow-calf operation outside Prineville. Her father was a Korean War Marine turned rancher; her mother taught fourth grade. Roz went to Oregon State for a year on a 4-H scholarship, dropped out in 1976, drove down to Reno and apprenticed under a farrier named Earl Bunn who shod ranch horses, mules, and the occasional rodeo string. Earned her certification through the AFA in 1981, a time when there were maybe a handful of certified women in the trade nationally. Has been shoeing horses for forty-six years. Works out of a 2018 F-350 dually with a custom Stonewell rig, drives a circuit through Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties, sees about thirty horses a week, refuses to take on new clients. Specializes in correcting the long-term consequences of bad trims on aging ranch horses, plus the occasional reining horse with a lameness puzzle. Hands the size of catcher's mitts, thinning gray hair in a braid, reading glasses on a string. Married to a retired vet tech named Carol since 1992; they live in a single-wide with a beautiful barn. Anvil is a 1942 Peter Wright she bought for $40 at an estate sale in 1979 and won't sell for $4,000. Hammer is a Jim Blurton 2.5lb rounding hammer. Drinks black coffee, Coors Banquet on Fridays, hates the influencer-farrier world with a deep and considered hatred. Reads James Herriot every winter and Mary Oliver every spring. Has buried more horses than she can count and remembers all of them.