Veterinarians' first five years here started with a 'whirlwind' that hasn't stopped
Veterinarians Bryan Luark and Katlin Hornig, shown here with their dog Sis, are marking their fifth year at the Gainesville Veterinary Hospital. They acquired the facility after longtime Gainesville vets Robin Deck and Bob Main retired.
Last fall the Gainesville Veterinary Hospital sponsored this saddle for the Arkansas Family Rodeo. From left: practice manager Janet Sisseck, technician Karlee Kingston, veterinarians Bryan Luark and Katlin Hornig, technicians Crystal Worden, Kelsey Nelson (front), Casey Solomon and Shelby Goodman. The vets and their staff were delighted that one of their clients, team roper Lindsey Cox, won the saddle.
Veterinarians Katlin Hornig and Bryan Luark share a love of animals with their clients, including Andi van der Ploeg, a daughter of close family friends Traci and Jeroen van der Ploeg.
Hornig and Luark work together at the Gainesville Veterinary Hospital, and both also make farm calls. In most cases, Luark handles the calls involving cattle, and Hornig, shown here with a mare and newborn foal owned by Philip and Jennifer Sadler, takes the equine calls. The vet clinic now includes an equine surgery facility that opened recently on Highway 160 east next to the Gainesville Church of Christ.
Hornig makes a chiropractic adjustment on one of her equine patients, Titan, owned by Twila Travis.
After knowing each other for 15 years, Katlin Hornig and Bryan Luark were married in October on the outfitting ranch owned by Luark's family near Burns, Colorado. The wedding took place in the same place where Luark's grandparents were married decades ago.
Luark's retired reining horse, Tommy, was on hand to help the couple celebrate their wedding.
Hornig makes speaking and teaching appearances around the area, ranging from talks with youngsters, like this session last year at the Ozark County Volunteer Library, to events such as the Women in Agriculture Conference in Poplar Bluff.
Luark cuddles with a baby Clydesdale, owned by Tim and Pam Massey, to keep it still while undergoing a transfusion. Hornig said the young horse recovered fully. "I saw it running around in the field not too long ago," she said.
After Katlin Hornig, right, and technician Crystal Worden vaccinated these five dogs owned by Carole and John Moody, the pups were happy to share some love.
It's been five busy years since veterinarians Dr. Bryan Luark and Dr. Katlin Hornig came here from Clovis, New Mexico, in February 2020 to shadow retiring vets Dr. Robin Deck and Dr. Bob Main and consider taking over the practice. Luckily for animal owners here, Hornig and Luark liked what they saw and returned three months later to begin their new life here.
On April 20, 2020, their first day as owners of the Gainesville Veterinary Hospital, "the phone started ringing at 7 a.m. and hasn't stopped," Hornig said recently. "That whole first year was a whirlwind. We've been super blessed to stay extremely busy."
That first year of extreme busy-ness was compounded by Hornig's decision to sign a contract to take on a second job working 14-hour overnight shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sundays at an emergency veterinary clinic in Springfield. They made that challenging choice "because we didn't know if we could support ourselves that first year," Hornig said.
Driving home from Springfield on Monday mornings after working a 14-hour Sunday evening shift and then going straight to work at their Gainesville Veterinary Hospital wasn't easy. But "we were high on life," Hornig said, crediting that enthusiastic energy with making those long hours possible.
Hornig dropped the Springfield job when the contract ended and now focuses on their own clinic work here; she handles most of the calls involving horses, small animal internal medicine, small animal surgery and "exotics." Luark works in the clinic as needed for routine small animal work and makes farm calls for cattle, equine and "small ruminant" (goats and sheep, etc.). He also works at sale barns in Salem and Ash Flat, Arkansas, on Thursdays and Fridays.
Their hard work and dedication recently led them to expand their facility here to include a newly constructed equine lameness, reproduction and surgical clinic on Highway 160 east, just south of the Gainesville Church of Christ. They performed their first surgery there on Feb. 4, described by Hornig as “an abdominal cryptorchid surgery on a young stud.”
Brought here by ‘fate and some internet research’
The Colorado natives first encountered the Ozarks when they drove through here on their way to Ohio to visit family a few years ago. They “fell in love with the area,” Hornig told the Times in a 2020 interview.
The two had graduated from vet school in 2015 (Luark) and 2016 (Hornig) and worked at separate sites in Colorado before moving to Clovis, where they worked under contract at separate vet facilities. But they wanted to find a place where they could both practice together. Meanwhile, longtime Gainesville veterinarians Robin Deck and Robert Main, who took over ownership of the Gainesville Veterinary Clinic when they moved here in 1985, were ready to retire. Fate and some internet research introduced the two couples, and after that February 2020 visit, the deal was made, and Hornig and Luark became the vets here a few months later.
While they both make farm calls and can competently treat whatever animal they’re called to see in the clinic, Luark tends to focus on large animal medicine and especially likes working on cattle. Hornig describes herself as an “everything vet” whose past work even included treating an alligator. During their time in Gainesville, they’ve seen “lots of horses, lots of cattle, lots of dogs and cats plus sheep, goats and chickens,” she said, adding that they also see “an occasional guinea pig, gecko and bearded dragon, and a few snakes.”
Oh, and some alpacas and a zebra brought up from the Mountain Home, Arkansas, area. Clients travel anywhere from five minutes to three hours to bring their animals to the Gainesville Hospital, she said.
Hornig and Luark are assisted in the clinic by what Hornig describes as a “phenomenal team” of “five amazing women,” including her mother, Janet Sisseck, who moved here from Clovis to serve as practice manager. Other members of the clinical team include technicians Kelsey Nelson, Casey Solomon, Crystal Worden and Karlee Kingston.
A Colorado wedding
Clinic staffers sometimes accompany Hornig or Luark on farm calls as well as tending to “in-house” animal patients. And this spring there may be another little critter to help tend to. After being together for 15 years, a few months ago, Hornig and Luark slipped away for a few days to get married on the Luark family’s outfitting ranch near Burns, Colorado. The outdoor wedding took place in the same outdoor setting overlooking a lake where Luark’s grandparents were married decades ago.
And now, the two vets are preparing for the birth of their first child, due in May. They’ve decided not to learn the child’s sex ahead of time, but whatever it is, “We guarantee this baby grows up in the vet clinic,” Hornig said, laughing.
Having a youngster hanging out at the clinic won’t be a first-time thing. At their clinic, “family is always number one,” Hornig said. “It’s why we love working here.” Anytime one of the technicians needs to bring their child to the clinic, they’re always welcome, she said.
The clinic’s ‘regular crazy schedule’
Hornig said she plans to take a few days off when the baby is born but expects to rejoin their regular crazy schedule soon afterward. These days, it looks like this:
5 to 6 a.m. – Arrive at clinic, work on hospitalized patients (animals staying at the clinic for treatment).
6 to 7:30 a.m. – Return phone calls and prepare for the day. Sometimes they head out to farm calls.
7:30 a.m. – Clinic appointments start, surgery check-in begins.
Appointments, surgeries and farm calls then continue through the day until about 5:30 p.m., Hornig said.
From 6:30 to 7 p.m., they take care of the hospital patients. And after that, they respond to “whatever emergencies come in,” she said. “Some weeks, when it’s not crazy with emergencies, we get back to the house around 8, 9 or 10 p.m.” She added that, some nights are so busy, with prolonged hours or intense care for hospitalized patients, they sleep at the clinic.
Their home is just a mile or so from the vet clinic, but when they’re at home, they have their own dogs, horses and cattle to tend to. (They also have pets who assist them in their professional work, including Shmu, the clinic cat and Sis, the farm-call dog.)
Practicing ‘phenomenal medicine’
The Gainesville Veterinary Hospital and the equine clinic are equipped with up-to-date medical equipment, including two digital x-rays, endoscopy, gastroscopy, ultrasound, shockwave, laser, in-house bloodwork and PRP processing, and an equine coggins lab. Although they’re in a rural and rather remote location, “We’re able to practice phenomenal medicine here,” Hornig said.
Two years ago, they invited a third veterinarian, Dr. Gillian Henson-Van Wyk, to join them. “It was a blessing to have her here,” Hornig said. But Van Wyk left when her husband accepted “an employment opportunity in Mississippi.”
Luark and Hornig often welcome pre-veterinary college students or high school students interested in veterinary medicine to shadow them for a few days. They also have senior veterinary college students in the clinic at times.
The couple’s work is rewarding and fulfilling. But there are hard times too, when a beloved pet or valued livestock can’t recover from an illness or accident. They recognize that not all outcomes can be ideal, but Hornig said they always put their best foot forward and concentrate on promoting quality of life and public health.
She added that they very much value their veterinary oath that states they will “use their scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.”
Speaking and teaching and telling vet-med jokes
In addition to their clinical work, Hornig also makes speaking and teaching appearances around the area, with audiences ranging from Gainesville preschoolers to attendees at a Women in Agriculture conference in Poplar Bluff. One of her favorite community activities is emceeing the annual Hootin an Hollarin pet show; her mom, Janet Sisseck, helps with judging and registering entrants. “We always look forward to that,” she said.
While the judges make their decisions, Hornig entertains the crowd with veterinary tidbits, vet-med jokes, games and info. Example: “What did the father buffalo say to his son when he dropped him off at college? Answer: “Bi-son.”
One year, she asked the crowd to guess the “top five things” she’d seen come from her canine patients’ stomachs during her years of practice. A variety of suggestions were shared by audience members, but few could have guessed the impressive collections Hornig said she had surgically removed: a My Little Pony figure, a stuffed Santa Claus with fluffy beard, five adult T-shirts, 12 pairs of underwear and 18 tube socks. (Actually, she said, the socks were vomited up rather than being surgically removed.)
The Gainesville Veterinary Hospital is located at 50 Animal Clinic Road in Gainesville (on the west side of Highway 5 north opposite Antler Pizza and Package Store on Third Street).
For more information or appointments call the clinic at 417-679-4328.