The Visionary Career of Dr. Eleanor Kellon, VMD – [Veterinary Nutritionist Profile]

It is not often that you meet a person who has lived their whole life — and continues to do so — full of passion for what they do and how they do it; a person who makes their dreams come true. Dr. Eleanor Kellon, VMD, a veterinary nutritionist at Mad Barn, is most definitely one of those people.

Kellon knew as early as age six that she wanted to be an equine veterinarian after her first encounter with a police horse… who bit her (one might say she was bitten by the “horse” bug!).

After over five decades of following her passion, Dr. Kellon is one of the most trusted and respected experts in the field of equine health.

Dr. Kellon has amassed an extensive list of publications including both field-based and theoretical research, as well as lessons through her books, blog posts, journals, and teaching courses found at DrKellon.com.

Her work is changing the way we look at equine nutrition, supplementation, the treatment of disease, and our understanding of metabolic conditions in horses.

Early Career

From the early start of Kellon’s career, she knew nutrition played a critical role in horse health, but it was not part of the veterinary pedagogy at the time.

It was later, when Kellon was doing clinical research during her internship and residency at the New Bolton Center Large Animal Hospital (University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine), that proved to be a pivotal point in Kellon’s thinking about horse health.

Around this same time, she was working as the resident farm veterinarian at Water Gap Farm, a standardbred training and rehabilitation center, where she serendipitously met her husband.

Kellon and her husband bred and raced Standardbred horses and it was through this experience that Kellon made important connections:

“I’ve always been interested in nutrition, but when you’re breeding racehorses, you really see the profound impact nutrition has on their performance. You can only do so much with a bottle of Bute [Phenylbutazone] and penicillin. It was then that I knew that proper nutrition was key to a healthy horse.”

And Kellon’s career and life trajectory changed forever.

Research Contributions

It was her key findings in field work that propelled Kellon deeper into the world of equine research. This passion was fueled by a keen interest in applying physiology and biochemistry to horse performance, inspired by the late Tom Ivers and the Horsescience Group.

Kellon later joined the Equine Cushing’s and Insulin Resistance Outreach Group (ECIR) and became contributing editor to the Horse Journal, where she played a role in major breakthroughs in horse health.

This marked the beginning of a paradigm shift in understanding metabolic issues in horses, a period during which the term ‘Equine Metabolic Syndrome’ (EMS) emerged as a key concept in the equine lexicon.

“That’s an interesting story,” notes Kellon. “Horse Journal received a question from a magazine reader who suggested supplementing horses that have large cresty necks and laminitis with magnesium and I was very curious as to why.”

“A search of the veterinary literature revealed two prior articles implicating elevated insulin in equine laminitis. My article on the response to magnesium was the first to suggest EMS, previously called Syndrome X, was indeed like the human insulin-resistant condition.”

Equine Nutrition

Among many of Kellon’s research contributions, her innovative research into the connection between non-Cushing’s metabolic issues in horses and nutrition stands out. Working with thousands of horses on the ECIR group, Kellon elucidated that certain breeds of horses are genetically predisposed to metabolic issues, such as insulin resistance.

But with the right nutritional program, including forage, salt, and supplements, one can mitigate the onset and severity of the disease.

“As a start, metabolically challenged horses need hydrolysable carbohydrates limited to under 10 percent and should receive 1.5 to 2 percent of body weight of forage per day. It’s about controlling carbohydrate (simple sugar and starch) intake because they are, in basic terms, insulin resistant.”

Concurrent to this, Kellon performed experiments with feed strategies for performance horses, including timed feeding of carbohydrates. “With performance horses, you ‘feed the work’ and stay on top of salt losses. Insufficient salt is the number one cause of poor performance.”

Additionally, Kellon’s notable work includes supplementation to support horses with myopathies, allergies, and degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD).

One of the most pressing messages that Dr. Kellon wants to impart — and that her years of field and clinical research have clearly shown — is the “need for a robust understanding of good equine nutrition and the value of exercise.”

Her expertise is in the nuanced understanding of how to manage horses with different metabolic conditions (EMS, Cushing’s), the aging horse, and the performance horse, all through a personalized approach to nutrition and lifestyle. Knowing your horse’s needs is key to the right nutritional profile and optimizing their health and wellness.

Knowledge is Power

A persistent challenge within the equine world, however, is that horse owners often overlook the importance of these two factors. Kellon strongly believes that knowledge is power, and it is her mission to disseminate and educate on the importance of nutrition within the equine sphere:

“Medicine has always been the solution to disease; diet has not been a consideration in the overall health of the horse. This must change. It’s not that hard to keep a horse alive, but surviving is not thriving. People need to let go of being rigid in their way of feeding and examine it in the light of the science of equine nutrition. There’s a big difference between meeting minimum needs and providing optimal nutrition.”

It is key, Kellon states, that horse owners seek the advice of experts — equine nutritionists in particular — to gain a clear and professional strategy for caring for your horse.

“The science is there to know the basic nutritional requirements for all classes of horses. We know how to create a proper diet and how to supplement it when there are deficiencies or imbalances. That’s step one. Beyond that, there are supplements that help with other issues and performance. When the core diet is right, most problems disappear.”

A qualified equine nutritionist will help to compensate for what problems a horse may be experiencing and adjust accordingly. Dr. Kellon notes that horses on the correct nutritional profile for their needs will begin to improve and see the benefits within as little as two weeks.

Teaching and Volunteering

Further to Kellon’s passion for medicine and science, she is extremely altruistic with her time and knowledge. In addition to volunteering with numerous equine organizations, for the past sixteen years Dr. Kellon has been teaching online courses on equine health and nutrition with over six thousand students to date, including veterinarians, graduate students, equine nutritionists, and horse owners.

She has amassed a dedicated following within the equine community for her extensive experience and breakthrough philosophies on horse health management. This high regard for her expertise is because of her genuine and authentic approach:

“It’s because I don’t make stuff up. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, then don’t talk. Everything I do is supported by research to the best of my abilities, and if I don’t know, then I say so. I am honest about hypotheses and proven results. If the results clearly show success, then that speaks volumes.”

Joining Mad Barn

And this is why there was an instant synergy between Dr. Kellon and the team at Mad Barn. With three veterinary nutritionists, eight Ph.D. scientists and nine M.Sc. nutritionists, Mad Barn boasts some of the leading experts in equine science from around the world.

An innovative equine nutrition company, Mad Barn is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of all horses, including funding equine health research, developing technology and feeding solutions, as well as providing education and support.

Her tenure is just at its infancy, but Kellon is enthusiastic for what she can contribute to the team. “It feels like home. It’s like no other place I’ve worked before. The energy and productivity are so high, the intelligence and expertise are incredible. And everyone is happy! It’s a rapidly growing, very productive company.”

Scott Cieslar, the mastermind behind Mad Barn is what Dr. Kellon believes is the secret behind their rapidly growing success and why she got involved with Mad Barn to begin with.

“Scott is one thousand percent committed to growing this company. He has built a team of incredible experts. They’ve done a fantastic job with the mission to invest in equine health research in Canada and improve the life of every horse. Everyone has heard about them now.”

Dr. Kellon thrives at Mad Barn as a veterinary nutritionist who writes and reviews content, collaborates with clients, and helps to develop the formulas for highly popular Mad Barn supplements. Any horse owner can work with Dr. Kellon to formulate a feeding program by ordering a forage analysis or submitting a diet evaluation.

No Time to Slow Down!

Dr. Kellon continues to work with the ECIR group, and her recent goal is to elucidate the link between iron and Cushing’s Disease. Iron stores increase with age, but the brain has its own system for balancing iron. There is a strong link with iron and Parkinson’s Disease in humans; she would like to know if this is true in horses as well.

Dr. Kellon’s big dream: to help horses live their best lives — healthy and happy — with educated owners and professionals that support them.

She has blazed trails in the equine nutrition world with her understanding and knowledge of EMS and the use of diet and supplements to mitigate the progression. Dr. Kellon has a passion for horses and to educate and share knowledge — a creed she lives by: “Give freely and it will come back to you.”

With a love of foxhunting, eventing, and anything Standardbred, Kellon has spent her life devoted to our equine companions. She is a woman who has broken barriers and become a highly respected expert in the field of equine health.

Kellon lives in Pennsylvania with her husband. They have four kids, seven grandchildren, two retired racehorses, seven birds (one — a conure named Chico – who does an excellent job as office manager), and a dog. There are also several cats — all of whom live only in the barn… for obvious reasons!