About
You be the judge. I have almost 40 years experience as a horse owner, a PhD in equine nutrition, 20 years experience as an equine nutrition specialist, a background in agriculture, and a solid understanding of soil/pasture/animal relationships. You’ll be relieved to know I also GET manufacturing. And milling. And how to combine ingredients to make them look great and perform well. Designing your products so they are practical to manufacture AND work beautifully for the horses they are fed to is what I do. My specialty is formulating products that taste amazing so horses really want to eat them!
On-the-ground, I’ve worked with everyone from Olympic level performance horses and Group One race horses to old kids ponies and everything in between. Equally comfortable in the racing stables of the Middle East, on huge pasture based breeding operations or on tiny rural horse farms, I have the experience to know what your customers need and how best to deliver it.
Rest assured that I am a true specialist in the horse field – I ONLY work with horses. My clients are exclusively feed and supplement companies just like you (plus one King’s breeding operation and another influential leader’s racing stable – I could hardly refuse). But helping your business THRIVE through excellent products and customer education, that is all backed by credible science, is what I’m here for.
On a personal level, I’m a Mum to two gorgeous kids, favourite human of two stunning horses (I bred both), one (surprisingly) sweet pony and three beautiful dogs, avid gardener (the outlet for my agronomy skills!), speed-reader, chocolate connoisseur, enthusiastic world traveler, amateur photographer (in fact I took all the photos on this website, except the ones that have me in them), slow but committed runner and I love a good laugh!
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelors Degree in Rural Science with First Class Honours and a PhD in Equine Nutrition (UNE).
PUBLICATIONS
Richards, N. (2003) Enhancing starch digestion in the equine small intestine. PhD Thesis, UNE.
Richards, N, Choct, M., Hinch, G.N., and Rowe, J.B. (2003) Equine a-amylase: does it limit starch digestion in the small intestine of the horse? Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia 14, 191 – 196.
Richards, N, Choct, M., Hinch, G.N., and Rowe, J.B. (2003) Starch digestion in the equine small intestine: is there a role for supplemental enzymes? Science and Technology in the Feed Industry, Alltech Biotechnology 19th International Symposium, 461 – 472.
Richards, N, Choct, M., Hinch, G.N., and Rowe, J.B. (2004) Examination of the use of exogenous a-amylase and amyloglucosidase to enhance starch digestion in the small intestine of the horse. Animal Feed Science and Technology 114, 295 – 305.
Richards, N., Hinch, G.N., and Rowe, J.B. (2006) The effect of current grain feeding practices on hindgut starch fermentation and acidosis in the Australian racing Thoroughbred. Australian Veterinary Journal 64, 402 – 407.
Richards, N. (2007) Modern pastures: are they an asset or a disaster for the equine industry? Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia 16, 93 – 100.
Richards, N. (2008) The non-structural carbohydrate content of some commercially available horse feeds in Australia. Proceedings of the Australian Equine Science Symposium 2, 25.
Richards, N. (2010) Mineral variability and heavy metal contamination of calcium carbonate and phosphate. Proceedings of the Australian Equine Science Symposium 3, 20.
Richards, N. (2010) Feeding to maintain insulin sensitivity. Proceedings of the Australian Equine Science Symposium 3, 30.
Richards N, Nielsen BD, Finno CJ. Nutritional and Non-nutritional Aspects of Forage. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2021 Apr;37(1):43-61. doi: 10.1016/j.cveq.2020.12.002. PMID: 33820609.
McLean NL, McGilchrist N, Nielsen BD. Dietary Iron Unlikely to Cause Insulin Resistance in Horses. Animals (Basel). 2022 Sep 21;12(19):2510. doi: 10.3390/ani12192510. PMID: 36230253; PMCID: PMC9559484.
There are more… I’ll put the recent ones up soon!
“Dr. Nerida Richards has been an key partner to SmartPak over the years. Her passion is infectious, and she’s always professional, reliable, and a joy to work with. Nerida’s nutrition expertise has been invaluable for our company, especially her support in developing our industry-leading line of multivitamins. She’s also added huge value partnering with our staff in the creation of equine nutrition media content, which has been incredibly engaging for our customer base. We could not recommend Nerida and her services enough.”
Casey Basta
Senior Manager of Product Development
SmartPak Equine
(USA)
“Nerida is that rare combination of scientific and pragmatic. Pryde’s is one of Australia’s top three horse feed companies for a reason. Quality. We take credit for the scrupulous sourcing and milling of premium ingredients, but our inspired feed recipes we owe to Nerida. They just work. They inspire trust. And keep our customers coming back for more, again and again.
Nerida genuinely loves horses and injects her passion, creativity, scientific knowledge and practical approach into everything she does. She’s also a great person to work with.”
Peter Pryde
Pryde’s EasiFeed
(Australia)
“Nerida knows her stuff! And always happy to help!”
ANGELA
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