”The head injury was a turning point”
Memory is a sieve, and a lot of it just slips away. But there are things that don't leave. A scent, a hit or maybe a quote. These are the bright spots that we want to focus on in this series of employee portraits. Next in line is Minna Sundström, Programme Director for the KOM PR programme.
Two years ago, Minna Sundström fell off her horse during a show jumping training. The fall did not only result in misery and head injury – she also fell onto a completely new track in life.
" Of course, it was a very difficult period after the head injury because I had severe tinnitius, difficulty concentrating and brain fatigue, but I also discovered that when I was with my animals, the horse Maja and the dog Walter, I functioned much better. At the time, I didn't notice any tinnitus or brain fatigue," she says.
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This got her thinking – what could a job that didn't trigger the brain injury look like? No sooner had the thought process started than she saw an advertisement for an education to become an equine therapist.
" It felt just right, and that's the way it is. Now I'm a certified equine therapist, as it's called," she says.
Always with animals
Although Minna still works at Mid Sweden University, she spends all her free time with her own animals and other people's horses, which she treats for various pains and tensions. It helps her to cope with the noisier job in a university environment.
"It's still the case that I feel better when I treat horses, then I don't notice my tinnitus, but after a day here at work, it starts to howl properly. I fill up with energy when I work with horses, which means that I have the energy to continue working at the university as well. There's a freedom to work as a teacher here, and it's really great fun to teach," she says.
Clear language
One day, Minna hopes to be able to work with horses to an even greater extent. It is a fascinating and rewarding process to help horses to a better well-being, she says.
" Being an EQIU therapist means that you are trained in the horse's musculoskeletal system, such as bones, muscles and joints, and look at the biomechanics, i.e. how it converts its energy into the horse's movement through the body. I assess, diagnose and treat. Horses have a very clear language so it's easy to read them and know that you're in the right place when you're treating. Then they chew, lick their lips, yawn and sort of soften their eyes. An acknowledgment that they like it is that they are so happy when I come for a return visit. Almost to the point that the owners can get a little jealous," she says, laughing.
When Minna is asked to highlight five things that have been and are important to her, it becomes a complex, a condition of life, a shift, a dependence and a spiritual kinship with a certain bull.
Tiny feet
My feet are ridiculously small, which has left its mark on me. There's always someone who makes a remark, and if they don't, I'll do it myself. It was especially hard when I was a teenager and couldn't get shoes in my size. The alternative was shoes with glitter and velcro, but I wanted pumps so I persuaded my mom to buy a pair of shoes that were way too big and then wobbled around in. I stuffed them full of paper so they wouldn't fall off my feet, it was barely possible. Nowadays I wear wool soles in my shoes instead.
Animals and nature
You are more present when you are with your animals, more in touch with life. They don't run the whisper, they're direct. If there's an animal nearby, I don't care about the people there, no matter where I am. My animals are my best friends. That's probably how people know me, as an animal person, the contact with animals is in my DNA. Animals are very clear in their communication, humans are more complex. You know what they want and what they like. I am also a hunter and love to sit quietly in the woods for several hours on a moose pass. A lot of people might think that's unlikely because I usually talk on both inhalation and exhalation.
The head injury
The head injury was a turning point. Life was extremely stressful after that. I couldn't read, couldn't look at a screen, or read text messages and things like that. But the injury also meant that I found my "calling". I took the plunge and trained as an equine therapist and acquired a completely new profession as an adult, a profession that is also not entirely uncomplicated. Being an eqiu therapist means that you are trained in the horse's musculoskeletal system, such as bones, muscles and joints, and look at the biomechanics, i.e. how it metabolizes its energy in the body. I assess, diagnose and treat.
Anatomy
You could almost say that I do anatomy drugs. It's so much fun. And I would never have thought that before I started the programme. In the most varied contexts, I can find myself sitting and thinking about different muscle groups and how they are connected. I like to immerse myself in a book about the anatomy of the horse, for example, I have a very detailed and detailed book where you have taken apart a real horse and can see different injuries caused by people, such as by saddle and bit.
Flowers
It may not have anything to do with my somewhat tough image in general, but the fact is that I'm completely sold on beautiful summer flowers. I sow seeds and grow and spend a lot of time growing a lot of flowers in the spring. Last year, for example, I had 100 blood amaranths that I handed out left and right. I didn't have room for everyone myself. I sow and grow in the spring, watch and enjoy during the summer and harvest seeds in the autumn.