Essential Equine Nutrition 2.72

Currently offering Equine Nutrition consulting with Dr Mark Barnett

Who is Mark Barnett?

Dr Mark Barnett, B.LivestockSci. (Hons I), PhD is our independent Equine Nutritional Consultant at Essential Equine Nutrition. Mark has had a lifelong association with horses, growing up on his parent’s Australian Stock Horse stud at Wallabadah NSW, riding and showing horses from an early age. Mark has competed in various horse related activities over the years including showing, campdrafting, polo, polocrosse and cutting. He has also been involved with the Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing industries, as well as pony club and rodeo.

After leaving school, Mark worked for 15 years as an accountant, horse trainer, grain silo manager and agricultural services logistic officer, and livestock leading hand at a cattle feedlot before completing a bachelor degree at the University of New England, Armidale NSW in Livestock Science. It was during this time he found his passion for science and research and developed a strong interest in nutrition, physiology and reproductive endocrinology. A PhD in Animal Nutrition and Physiology ensured over the coming years. While completing his PhD, Mark developed a very strong understanding of how nutrition impacted on the physiology of an animal and how this, in turn, affected the animal’s health and performance.

In 2015, Mark was invited to become the lecturer of Animal and Equine Nutrition at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga NSW where he taught the impact of nutrition on health and performance to students of Animal, Equine, Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences. While at CSU, Mark supervised the first ever study into the effectiveness of turmeric in preventing and treating equine gastric ulcers. Mark was often asked by students, colleagues and those outside of the university for advice on feeding and treating horses. He was regularly asked to give talks on equine nutrition, presenting to various groups including pony club associations and land care groups, and even gave talks on nutrition at the 2017 Man from Snowy River festival. In mid-2017, Mark decided to leave university life and moved to Toowoomba with his family to work full time as an equine nutritionist with Essential Equine Nutrition.

Mark’s focus is on improving the health and performance of horses at all levels based on balanced nutrition that is scientifically sound. No fads!