Kristine Ely’s Most Beautiful Place

Written by Bill Kent | Photos by Camden Littleton 

Moving through an open field with Kristine Ely is almost like touring an art gallery with a curator.

“She would pick up a blade of something and tell me what it was,” Courtney Kockler, Piedmont Equine’s small animal clinic operations director, remembers of an afternoon when she and Ely explored Stepping Stone Farm in Aldie. “She would explain the good, the bad, and the ugly about all the different grasses we have. She taught me which ones were poisonous and which ones were just a burden. She taught me about mowing, and the importance of timely mowing.”

Ely is a Virginia Tech faculty member and professional animal scientist at the 420-acre Middleburg Agricultural Research Extension (MARE) Center — philanthropist and equine enthusiast Paul Mellon’s 1949 creation. She was born in McHenry, Illinois, a quiet suburban town where her love of horses led to a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Tennessee Tech. Next she pursued a master’s from the University of Tennessee, and finally graduated from Virginia Tech with a Ph.D. in equine nutrition. MARE is one of 11 research stations owned by Virginia Tech and the only one in the Commonwealth devoted to equine research.

Ely recommended Kockler divide her fields into smaller sections to manage the forage growth better. “We spent lots and lots of time running electric [fencing wire],” Kockler recalls. “Kristine has an amazing ability to make the not-so-fun jobs a good time. I not only learned a lot from her but we had a great time maximizing the nutritional value of the fields.”

If you ask Ely, it’s not an easy task. “What’s good for the horse is not always good for the pasture, and vice versa,” she explains. “From a distance, a pasture appears to be a peaceful, restful place. Close up, you can see the effects of many variables. A lot is going on, if you care to take a look.”

She adds that “many people with horses have more horses than land to graze them adequately. This is completely understandable; I love horses, and everybody I know loves horses. But when landowners focus more on the horses than the land beneath them, the health of the land — particularly the soil — can suffer. That can cause long-term issues that are much harder to fix.”

“Kristine has an amazing ability to make the not-so-fun jobs a good time. I not only learned a lot from her but we had a great time maximizing the nutritional value of the fields.” –Kockler

Many problems for horses, ranging from obesity to parasites to nutrition-related illnesses, can be addressed and prevented with improved pasture and grazing management, Ely believes. 

Her work has taken her to agricultural research laboratories throughout the country and even to Europe, Canada, and Panama. For the last eight years, Ely has lived either in the area or on-site at the MARE Center with her blue heeler dog, Jack, and her retired Thoroughbreds, Momo and Blues.

“Dr. Ely is a down-to-earth person. She’s easy to talk to and understands real horse people, because she is one!” says her colleague, Dr. Jessica Suagee-Bedore, a fellow equine nutritionist and associate professor of practice at the Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences. “She’s always considering if the solution could be implemented in a real-world situation. As a scientist, she’s creative, innovative, and willing to work very hard to solve problems.”

Among those problems is the inevitable tendency for underexercised horses to put on weight. In April at the MARE Center, Ely hosted an equine field day, showcasing a new grazing system that encourages horses’ appetites to move them along a track as they feed. 

Kim Reid, equine director of the Rapidan Equine Sanctuary in Fredericksburg, was in attendance that day. Ely compared the pasture track to a more typical rotational pasture beside it. Reid says she was sufficiently “inspired by the background behind the track system to give it a try, because we care about the sustainability of our land and the mental and physical well-being of our herds.” She continues, “Our minis have a small field, so it was most cost effective for us to try it there first.”

Within weeks, the minis had, beneficially, lost weight. “Before we implemented the track, they spent a lot of time just standing around in one spot,” Reid says. “Since creating the track, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in their movement and activity — they are on the go more often. One moment they’re at one end drinking water, and just 10 minutes later, they’ve made their way to the opposite side to lick at the mineral block. Five minutes later, they are at a hay station… Overall, they seem healthier, more settled, and content in their environment.”

“She’s always considering if the solution could be implemented in a real-world situation. As a scientist, she’s creative, innovative, and willing to work very hard to solve problems.” –Suagee-Bedore

Other MARE Center projects that Ely is involved in include:

• A study on delayed hay harvest that will determine the best timing to cut for the highest nutritional content. This work also supports efforts to increase grassland bird nesting habitat.
• Introducing new foraging plants for pasture use.
• Tracking the composting qualities of different kinds of stable bedding.
• Finding ideal spacing of hay bales in winter so that cattle will move from bale to bale and distribute their manure more evenly, thus aiding pasture replenishment in the spring.

“Most of these studies are the result of years of research,” Ely says. “What excites me is how important this is to understanding the relationship between the land and the health of grazing animals. People don’t know that this is the largest pasture-based equine agricultural research laboratory of its kind in the country, and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

During spring and fall, Ely works seven days a week at the MARE Center, doing everything from supervising as many as a dozen graduate students to visiting Hunt Country agriculture professionals, writing grant proposals, running her own research projects, doing lectures and demonstrations, caring for the horses and cleaning stalls, and making sure that the buildings and horses are secure when a storm is on the horizon. When she has time, she also consults with Hunt Country farms.

Former Nordstrom fashion director and current DJ Heather Femia invited Ely to Bella Terra, her new farm off Unison Road, because “Kristine has a specialized knowledge base rooted in agriculture. She was friendly and very responsive, making my task of learning a whole new subject seem less daunting,” Femia explains. “I think when you imagine your animals thriving because of the land, you see and appreciate the land in a new light.”

“I think when you imagine your animals thriving because of the land, you see and appreciate the land in a new light.” –Femia 

They went on a walk and Ely identified the plants and trees unsuitable for horses. She “gave me advice on improving the quality of the forage and managing the land so it stays green and healthy as much as possible,” Femia says. “We had a treed ditch that was hard to maintain and would likely be dangerous for the horses. We considered removing the trees and ditch all together.” Ultimately, “Kristine advocated to keep the trees, so we did some site work, removed the dangerous slope, but kept lots of the trees for shade and air-filtering properties.”

Then Ely tested the soil in the farm’s fields. “We added gravel to our gate areas. We were mindful to put water where it would inspire walking and not compound already heavy traffic areas,” Femia notes. “All of these items Kristine spoke to us about. Kristine also reviewed the grain we used for our three horses with different needs. She importantly advised me to switch one of my horses to a balancer to ensure she gets key nutrients and maintains a balanced diet. My little quarter horse is looking great these days after watching the calories.”

Ely’s greatest skill? “She’s a good listener,” Femia shares.

On a rare day off, Ely will go riding or visit a winery with Kockler. When her mother, “a super Patsy Cline fan,” visited, they toured the Patsy Cline house in Winchester.

She expects to marry soon and start a family. Until then, Ely tries to visit the same place every day. It’s at the top of what is called Hill 4, a small rise within the MARE Center landscape. 

“Some years back, I was with Jack and I was checking the foraging grasses we had introduced here when I looked around,” she remembers. She sat in her Kubota ATV with her dog, Jack, and watched grasses move gently in the spring breeze. She could hear a faint rustling as the wind touched the seed heads. “I realized I was in the most beautiful, wonderful place — my little piece of heaven.” ML

Published in the July 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.