Dr Ann Stuart attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and went on to graduate with honors from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1989.   After completing an Internship in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Georgia she moved to the Asheville NC area and started a private practice.  With a special interest in athletic horses, Ann became involved with endurance riding where she has competed and vetted since the early 1990’s. 
She also has served as part of the team staff for USA East Endurance and the United States Equestrian Team for many years.   As the Chef d’Équipe, Assistant Chef or Team Veterinarian she traveled throughout North America as well as Europe, South America and the Middle East. 
Her other interests and hobbies include archeology, quilting, traveling (without horses), pleasure riding, natural horsemanship and spending time outside with her dogs.

Selected accomplishments:

In Ann's words:
My interest in helping with the formation of APEX started after seeing a need to share information among endurance riders.   Education has long been an interest of mine and it always proves to be more valuable as a two way street.   We can learn more from sharing what we learn from our collective successes and challenges than we could ever figure out in a lifetime of endurance riding, coaching or vetting.   By sharing information we can all ride to our full potential and take the best care of our horses possible.
I vetted my first race in Georgia in 1989 and was immediately hooked.   What a fantastic group of horses and horse people sharing lots of common goals.   And where were the snobs?   Not that I looked very hard, but I couldn’t find them.   Riding, camping and traveling all over with this nomadic tribe of endurance riders became a huge part of my life for the next 20 years.   Every day I still learn something new about our incredible equine companions.
Of course, I couldn’t be satisfied just being a vet.   I wanted to see what all of the fun was about.   My first endurance horse was “Ike”, a free (we all know what that means) Quarab that I rode for years.   Only after I started riding “Ballyhoo” did I realize that I had ridden hundreds of miles on a jackhammer with a few screws loose.  It only took me a decade to figure out that it didn’t have to be that way.   Riding “Bally” was a dream – bold and willing and beautiful to boot.  
After carrying me through lots of fifties and a few hundreds we both agreed that he was a bit out of his league.  He will always be the horse of my life (we all know what that means too!) after all that we went through together.   Now, in semi-retirement, he snickers through his whiskers as “Shiiloh” carries me around the ring and off into the mountains for new adventures. “Shiiloh” has lots of great potential and we hope to enjoy the trail together for years to come.