Meet Our Founder

Scott Cieslar - Horse NutritionistScott Cieslar has 20+ years experience as a professional nutritionist, receiving an MSc in physiology and nutrition from the University of Guelph. He started working on a PhD, but put his degree on hold to run Mad Barn.

Scott has nutrition down to a science, but he’s not just book smart; he’s got horse sense too.

Scott grew up surrounded by horses at the “B” tracks of Ontario. He has dedicated his life to better understanding the nutritional requirements of horses and helping horse owners put the latest research into practice.

I did not start out with the intent to sell equine nutrition products, instead formulated the mineral and vitamin premix because I wanted the best nutrition for my own horses.

It wasn’t that there was a shortage of options in the market place, but it seemed that the well formulated products were prohibitively expensive or used ingredients I did not want to feed.

The myriad of supplements on the market are often formulated to target an ailment and therefore would have very high levels of a few nutrients and be completely devoid of others, which simply creates imbalances in the diet and leads to other issues.

The solution, formulate my own completely balanced mineral and vitamin premix. Seeing the improvement in condition and performance of the horses in my care, naturally, people asked what I was feeding. They started purchasing my formula and from there a business was born.

Scott Cieslar

Why Mad Barn Exists

On the exterior, we may look like a lot of other supplement companies, but let us assure you, we are not. Our primary purpose is not to convince you to buy products, it’s to advance the practice of equine nutrition by:

  1. Funding research to better understand how nutrition impacts the health of your horse.
  2. Developing technology and feeding solutions to make it easier to feed your horse what he or she needs.
  3. Providing education and support to horse owners and the broader equine community.

Nutrition is the cornerstone to equine health, well-being and optimal performance. Our nutritionists are always available to answer your questions or help you formulate a balanced feeding program for free.

We fund all of our activities through product sales. So if you feed your horse Mad Barn, thank you for helping us achieve our mission.

Our Team

Scott Cieslar - Equine Nutritionist
Scott Cieslar, MSc
CEO & Chief Nutritionist
Sharifa Darani - Chief Marketing Officer
Sharifa Darani
Chief Marketing Officer
Priska Darani - Head of Nutrition Team
Dr. Priska Darani (Stahel), PhD
Director of Research
Christine Latham - Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Christine Latham, PhD
Lead Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Emily Gilbert - Business Development
Dr. Emily Gilbert, PhD
Business Development
AJ Moore - Retail Sales Director
AJ Moore
Retail Sales Director
Dr. Ana Mesa PhD - Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Ana Mesa, PhD
Equine Nutritionist
Melissa McGilloway - Equine Nutritionist
Melissa McGilloway, MSc
Equine Nutritionist
Linaya Pot - Equine Nutritionist
Linaya Pot, MSc
Equine & Dairy Nutritionist
Elise Lafleur - Equine Nutritionist
Elise Lafleur, MSc
Equine Nutritionist
Sophie Stratton - Equine Nutritionist
Sophie Stratton, MSc
Equine Nutritionist
Tori Smurthwaite - Equine Nutritionist
Tori Smurthwaite, MSc
Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Brittany Perron, PhD - Equine Nutritionist
Dr. Brittany Perron, PhD
Equine Nutritionist
Jaime Thomas - Customer Happiness
Jaime Thomas, BSc
Content Creator
Kirah McCafferty - Customer Happiness
Kirah McCafferty, DipAgr
Customer Happiness
Camryn McNeill - Customer Happiness
Camryn McNeill, BBRM
Customer Happiness
Sarah McEwin - Logistics & Inventory Manager
Sarah McEwin
Logistics & Inventory Manager
Sadia Saif - Operations Manager
Sadia Saif, MBA
Operations Manager
James Pinder - Production Manager
James Pinder
Production Manager
Elissa Blowe - Customer Advisor
Elissa Blowe
Customer Advisor
Julie Vigneault - Customer Advisor
Julie Vigneault
Customer Advisor
Bivek Joshi - Web Developer
Bivek Joshi, M.Eng
Web Developer
Emily Leishman - Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Emily Leishman, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Cara Cargo-Froom - Research Fellow
Dr. Cara Cargo-Froom, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Patty Kedzierski - Feed Bank
Patty Kedzierski, PhD Candidate
Feed Bank