About Apex Riding Academy

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Nationally recognized Apex Riding Academy was founded years ago by Julie Daniel, Owner of Daniel Training Center. 

Julie has trained both riders from the beginner to the most accomplished.  Julie’s horses and riders have earned countless local, regional and national level titles in all disciplines.  Julie's proven methodology is practiced by Apex's professional Instructors Kasey Moffat & Kari Brooks.   Like Julie, Kasey & Kari readily connect to inexperienced, novice, and seasoned riders and can readily articulate the basic hands-on foundation necessary to support learning and understanding the art of horsemanship correctly and most importantly, how to do it safely.

Apex Riding Academy is conveniently located in Scottsdale in a breathtaking new facility at Scottsdale Road and Dynamite

Kasey has been with Daniel Training Center/Apex Riding Academy for over ten years and specializes in instructing the beginner to advanced rider.  Kasey’s clients have enjoyed great success at local shows, Class A shows, and Regional level shows.   Once your level of riding ability has been established, Kasey will develop a personalized and individual program for you.   Kasey started her career conditioning horses which grew into showing DTC client horses in various disciplines.  She has been an integral part of the DTC team for over ten years and is now one of our head trainers

Once you get to know her, you will readily see that Kasey has built an infrastructure at DTC/ARA that keeps things organized and running efficiently “behind the scenes” at all times.  

Kari will oversee all of the functions under the Apex Riding Academy brand.

Kari brings with her over 20 years’ experience teaching youth and training horses.  During the course of her career, Kari has worked with several nationally recognized Arabian horse trainers.  She excels at starting beginning riders and developing intermediate riders. Many of the students Kari started are now competing and winning in the show pen.  Kari  guides the development and implementation  of summer camp programs, clinics and other special events.

Kari fills a strategic role at Apex and we are beyond fortunate to have her as a part of our team for over 5 years now. 

Jacy Prestinario rounds out the DTC and the Apex team and brings fifteen plus years of riding experience with her. Jacy started riding as a toddler and was showing horses competitively by the age of five. She fine tuned her equestrian skills training with major Saddlebred and Arabian establishments in various parts of the country until finally landing back in Scottsdale. Jacy's biggest goal is to share her extensive knowledge with her students and create strong, confident bonds between riders and their horses.  Jacy is not only an accomplished equestrian but also owns two businesses.  Additionally, she was awarded a scholarship to the University of Arizona and is currently majoring in Environmental Science.  We are excited that Jacy is part of the DTC and Apex family and knew she was a perfect fit the minute she said, "I look forward to watching magic happen and making dreams come true"!  

 Lauren Stephenson  has worked very hard the last few years, apprenticing as a junior instructor and trainer. She has put in countless hours doing all the grunt work, helping with horses, assisting our instructors, grooming at shows and competing with her own horse. She is currently attending an equine based high school and has goals to become a veterinarian. We are proud to announce her as our newest staff member. Lauren will be our Junior Instructor and Junior Assistant Trainer at Apex Riding Academy. Lauren has many regional and National titles in Country Pleasure, English Pleasure, showhack, side-saddle and costume. She looks forward to continue to learn as well as sharing the knowledge she has with a new generation of riders.