‘Tough’ is the second. 

The Scone woman is one of those people that even though she’s facing her own adversity and challenges, she’s still out there in the community doing what she loves and helping others. 

The only way to stop her pencilling all weekend at the Australian Stock Horse Breeders Show, was the fact that her doctor demanded she stay out of the elements. 

Debbie’s a trooper, she’s a battler and for those who know her she’s a great teacher for young riders. 

After growing up in Inverell, Debbie has been around horses and a saddle her entire life, marrying a fellow equine enthusiast and having two children who are also passionate horse people. 

Recently her daily activities have been reduced significantly due to a terminal cancer, but she still finds time for the horses.

The 47-year-old has what she calls ‘secret squirrel cancer’, which was only found by accident and has spread throughout her liver, lungs, back, above her kidney and on her ribs.

The neuroendocrine fully functioning, extremely rare cancer was diagnosed in May last year, and although it is terminal she undergoes lutate therapy to slow it down. 

Due to this, Debbie has had to slow down, but through the success of her and husband Mick’s thoroughbreds and by volunteering at Scone Pony Club she manages to keep a positive outlook and keep on going. 

“I have my sooky bub days and then I have good days.

“The nuclear treatment is 10 times worse than chemotherapy, but at least I don’t lose my hair,” she said. 

“Unfortunately my treatment days have been lining up with events this year, but as soon as I’m right to go, I get back down there to White Park or out to the stables,” she said. 

Debbie’s affiliation with pony club first started when she was seven-years-old and went to her first pony camp in Tenterfield. 

She continued to compete right through until she was 25, and by that stage her children Stasie and Dane had both started, leading to continued involvement as a parent helper at Inverell. 

For the past seven years, Debbie has been a familiar face and voice at Scone Pony Club where she is currently in her third year as senior instructor. 

She said it is so much easier doing pony club without having her own children in it, as now she can devote all her time to helping other children with their riding. 

Debbie is instrumental in the organisation and operation of the annual School Horse Sports Day hosted by Scone Grammar School during the Scone and Upper Hunter Horse Festival. 

She is also a key player in making the pony club’s Ribbon Days, President’s Cup Days and practice days happen. 

At present, she is looking forward to being involved with the running of the Pony Club State Championships for show riding to be held in Scone on the first weekend of December. 

The event will draw about 250 children from NSW and Queensland to Scone for a busy weekend of competition. 

Debbie said she really enjoys helping the children enhance their skills, as well as the  friendships she has made through pony club.

When the children went their separate ways showing and rodeoing, Debbie did the miles supporting their interests and has always been keen to help.

When Dane was rodeoing and still at school, he was the student secretary of the National Student Rodeo Association which ran the national finals here in Scone and Debbie was very involved as an adult stakeholder. 

She was also involved with the Scone Rodeo and Campdraft Committee, helping to launch the first Johnny Lawler Memorial Junior Day.

Horses have also been the key to Debbie’s working life as she has worked within the thoroughbred industry for many years. 

Throughout the years she has worked as a race horse strapper and stable hand for Justin Drake in Muswellbrook and Greg Schumaker in Scone. 

In between Debbie, Mick and Dane together did a stint in Sydney working under John Hawkes at the Ingham Bloodstock Coolamon Park Pre-training Centre. 

“The boys rode track work and I saddled, washed, cleaned boxes and did pretty much everything else,” Debbie said.

“All that fun stuff that people don’t realise needs to be done.”

She then went to work for Matthew Smith at Warwick Farm as his foreman, before coming back to Scone to work for Paul Messara. 

In 2007, Debbie and Mick started their own horses so she started repairing rugs and looking after their own thoroughbreds with Mick training and Dane riding track work.

At one stage they had 23 racing and pre-trainers, however now they have scaled down to two.

Debbie is very proud of these two as one is Speedy Squib who won three races in a row, has placed second three times, third three times, as well as gaining a fourth, sixth and ninth. 

The other – Love These Legs – is currently in preparation for a long distance race at Muswellbrook on the cup day next month.

Debbie ‘babysits’ the horses each morning and afternoon as it keeps her moving and gives her something better to do (than worrying about her health).

“They say to keep positive, and horses always keep you busy,” she said. 

“Horses keep me sane.”