Her Movie Is Meant To Save Lives Valley Woman’s Video On Helmet Use For Horse Riding To Air Nationwide
Some make movies for money. Others do it for Oscars.
Jean Gulden made hers to save the lives of kids who love horses.
Her equestrian helmet-safety video has likely done just that. And it will soon air nationwide on public television.
“To me, the importance of being able to save a life is … what do you say? It feels good,” the Spokane Valley woman said.
The video has saved cyclists, too. Geanne Kaschmitter of Davenport, Wash., wore her helmet only sporadically before watching the tape.
Geanne, 17, was riding her bicycle and was hit by a car.
“She was hit dead center, wrapped her legs around the fender, hit the hood and rolled off,” Don Kaschmitter said of his daughter’s July 10 accident.
Her elbows, shoulders and knees were shredded. Kaschmitter credits the video “Every Time … Every Ride …” for protecting her skull. Thousands of copies of the 20-minute tape have been distributed nationwide. Gulden even sent a copy to Egypt. On Monday, it will be available via satellite to 300 public TV stations. Spokane station KSPS Channel 7 plans to show it Sept. 7 at 3:30 p.m.
The project began with small talk.
In January 1994, Gulden and a neighbor were chatting at her rural home. Both owned horses and neither rode without wearing a helmet. Many riders they knew weren’t so keen on the idea. Gulden wanted to show them a safety video, but couldn’t find one.
So she decided to produce one herself, in conjunction with the Washington 4-H Foundation and Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension. “I began this program thinking it would take six months,” she said.
It took nearly two years. First, she had to raise money. She applied for grants, but the money materialized slowly. A local company, North By Northwest Productions, convinced her to take the seed money and make a preview. That prompted more organizations to donate.
Gulden then met Debbie Lenius, a Spokane woman whose 12-year-old daughter, Pollie, had been killed in 1988 when she was thrown from a horse. Pollie had no helmet. Lenius volunteered her story for the video.
“My dream had always been that hopefully we’d save a life,” Lenius said.
Actor Christopher Reeve, an avid equestrian, agreed to be the narrator. Sadly, Reeve fell from a horse in May 1995 and was paralyzed - despite wearing a helmet - just days before he would have finished the voice track.
Actor William Shatner agreed to fill in. Shipping of the tape was delayed a month. It went into distribution last August.
Gulden thought she’d be lucky if 4-H sold 200 copies. She went for broke and ordered 1,000. Now she orders that many every couple of months.
Gulden, a 40-year-old mother of three, is pleased by the hundreds of letters she has received from grateful viewers.
“If you get one kid to wear a helmet, it might be the one whose life you save,” she said.
, DataTimes