Debra grew up on Vancouver Island near Victoria BC.  Her interest in horse sport began at age 10 with ponies and pony club and then later to the junior hunter and jumper divisions.  To further her riding education Debra moved to the mainland and rode at Thunderbird Show Park with Lindy Townley.  She soon became Lindy’s working student and competed extensively in the Pacific Northwest. At age 19 her horse “Equinox” led her to the top of the ranks in both hunter and jumper divisions including countless championships in pro divisions like the Regular (4’) Hunters and 1.45m jumpers in Canada and the USA. Equinox was Open Hunter Champion for Canada in 1979.  

After completing a show circuit in Alberta in 1982, Debra fell in love with the area and soon returned to Calgary to take her first professional riding job with Claudia Cojocar.  Three years later she went on to found True North Stables, producing many national and provincial champions annually.  These horses included “Summer Solstice” and “True North”, multiple champions in Canada and the USA and “Jack Frost” who was many times open jumper champion in Canada and the US, and “Polarized” who was unbeatable in the 1.45m division for two years, winning the National Bank Saddle Award at Spruce Meadows against runner ups Bernie Traurig and Rich Fellers and garnering horse of the year honours.  Both those horses later became top mounts for USET rider Maclain Ward. The vast majority of Debra’s well-known horses were developed from unstarted young horses through to the top levels.

Her students did equally as well, including winning numerous CET medal finals and competing at the National Finals at the RAWF in Toronto, Harrisburg, PA and International Young Riders jumper events.  Many of her students, such as Gaia Parker, Lynne Stephenson (Wachter), Chelsea Brittner and Jenn Serek to name a few, went on to become professionals in their own right. Debra’s forte was always matching horses and riders together — often taking horses in other jobs, or from one of the 17 countries that Debra imported horses from, and finding the perfect partnership with one of her clients.

During the late 90’s Debra became instrumental in the development of the National Coaching Certification Program and helped write the program for the elite equestrian level as mandated by Sport Canada. Debra also attended the National Sports Schools at universities in Calgary and in Ottawa, where she took non-equine specific elite athlete training in the areas of Sport Psychology, Leadership & Ethics, Planning and Periodization and Athlete Fitness and Recovery.  This resulted in Debra achieving the accreditation of the first NCCP Level 4 Coach, a status that was held by only two other active show jumping coaches in Canada at the time.

Debra was always active at the community level. She was VP of the Alberta Show Jumping Association for 15 years and was a contributor on several other Equine Canada boards including the CET committee, Hunter/Jumper Rules, Show Standards, Coaching Certification and Young Horse Development. Debra ran her own equestrian center for 25 years and founded and managed several A-Circuit and provincial horse shows including the True North Summer Welcome and the Rocky Mountain Classic. Up until a few years ago Debra held her senior judge’s card for hunter and equitation and her junior card in course designing.

In 2009, Debra semi-retired from the sport of show jumping to devote her time to the study and photography of wild horses and horse cultures around the world resulting in the authorship of two books. Her study of wild horse behaviour has greatly informed her training practices of domestic horses.

Debra also has received recent training in the field of trauma-informed psychology as a Brilliant Healing cohort. This training included the study of the poly-vagal nervous system, somatic meditation, nervous system regulation and attachment theory. This training further enhances Debra’s relational skills and informs her teaching and training practices.

Debra continues to teach part-time while enjoying a prolific career as photographer and artist.