Eagles’ Britain Covey flashes pink cleats for yards, and a charity close to his family’s heart

When the Eagles’ defense forced the San Francisco 49ers off the field on their opening drive Sunday afternoon, punt returner Britain Covey trotted out from the sideline, his feet a blur of pink beneath him.

The vibrant pink popped against the dark Lincoln Financial Field grass, a symbol of the mission represented on his feet as part of the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative that takes place during Weeks 13 and 14. Covey chose to promote Bridle Up Hope: The Rachel Covey Foundation, his family’s charity named in honor of his cousin, Rachel, who at age 21 died over a decade ago after suffering from depression and anxiety.

Her parents, Rebecca and Sean, are Covey’s aunt and uncle who reside in Alpine, Utah, 32 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. In the wake of tragedy, they sought to create a means of hope for girls and women dealing with wide-ranging issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, and abuse. A lover of horses, Rachel inspired Sean and Rebecca to start a foundation that aims to use equestrian training to promote hope, confidence, and resilience in girls and women.

Rachel’s death, coupled with the loss of Britain’s cousin, Jenna, just a few years later, changed the way Covey and his family interact with the world around them. For Covey, it’s a reminder to treat everyone as if they’re going through something difficult.

“It’s beautiful to create light out of such darkness, but also to acknowledge that there is still just a darkness because of that,” Covey told The Inquirer. “And I don’t want anyone else to have to feel that. It doesn’t go away completely. You can create light out of it.”

An affinity for horses started off as a hobby for Rachel and her younger sister, Victoria, while growing up in scenic Alpine. But over time, Rebecca and Sean succumbed to their daughters’ desires for horses of their own, adding the likes of Tarzan, Aruba, and Kokomo to their family.

As Rachel grew older and more experienced, she became a gifted equestrian, focusing her talents on endurance riding.

“She loved it,” Covey said. “She would be at rodeos, things like that. And she just felt her comfortable self around them.”

When Rachel died, Sean was well aware of how much his daughter loved horses. Until the week of her funeral, however, he wasn’t aware of how Rachel had spread that passion among her friends.

Story after story, Sean learned that when Rachel’s friends were going through difficult times, she would take them on horseback rides. He recalled her friends, some he had never met before, telling him that there was just “something about” getting the opportunity to bond with sensitive, intelligent horses and spend time in nature.

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“Several people came up to us and said, ‘Your daughter changed my life,’ ” Sean said. “ ‘Your daughter saved my life.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ and, ‘What’s your name?’ ”

Rebecca and Sean decided to carry on what Rachel started. Bridle Up Hope began as a small riding program intended to serve five girls in the neighborhood struggling with their own hardships who didn’t have access to horses. Word spread, and the wait list grew. They learned about the pervasiveness of mental health issues among teenage girls specifically — according to the CDC, approximately three in five (57%) U.S. teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, which is nearly a 60% increase over the previous decade.

They raised money to build their headquarters in Alpine, complete with 20 horses and 17 instructors, that was capable of serving more participants. Now, at the Alpine location alone, Bridle Up Hope conducts anywhere from 87 to 100 one-on-one lessons a week, according to executive director Nicole Holgreen.

They’ve also partnered with 12 barns across the world to run their program, including locations in Chernihiv, Ukraine, and Tallinn, Estonia. Since the foundation’s inception in 2013, Bridle Up Hope has counted more than 2,000 girls and women as participants in their equine-assisted learning program.

“I feel like a lot of nonprofits that I speak with talk about having to drag their nonprofit along and try and keep it going,” Holgreen said. “And Sean, Rebecca, and I joke about it often that we have a tidal wave behind us, and we’re going as quickly as we can. It’s so needed and it works.”

There are three pillars that constitute Bridle Up Hope’s curriculum for women and girls ages 12 and up.

The first element is horseback riding, with each lesson lasting an hour and 15 minutes for girls and two hours for women.

The second pillar is the incorporation of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, Sean’s father and Britain Covey’s grandfather, into those lessons to help equip each student with life skills.

The third pillar is service, not only to help maintain the stables and care for the horses, but also to build connections with other members of the Bridle Up Hope community. For every 10 hours of service, participants earn free lessons after completing their seven-week program. Through each of the three pillars, Holgreen said the program provides girls and women with resources to process the ups and downs of life in a healthy, productive way.

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“There seems to be a new narrative that if you aren’t happy all the time, you aren’t happy, which just simply isn’t true,” Holgreen said. “That’s how we learn and grow, through the ups and downs of life. And hopefully, it’s not a dramatic up and down. You don’t want to be happy, angry, sad, all over the place. But normalizing a little bit more than that you’re gonna have hard days, and you’re gonna have great days. And that’s part of learning and growing. And here’s some tools to help navigate that.”

For the Coveys, football runs in the family. In 1987 and 1988, Sean was the starting quarterback at BYU, the crosstown rival of Britain’s alma mater, Utah. Early on during Britain’s football career, Sean would offer him advice on navigating the pressures of playing at the Division I level.

As Britain grew older and more accomplished, setting the school record in career punt return yards (1,092), Sean said his nephew didn’t need his help any longer. But Britain continued to keep his family at the forefront as his star rose at Utah.

“Britain’s really personable. He’s genuine, he’s real, he cares for people, he’s kind,” Sean said. “And he always had a good relationship with Rachel. When NIL started at Utah, he thought, ‘Well, I want to use it for good.’ ”

Not only did Britain use NIL resources to support Bridle Up Hope, but he also used his platform to promote the cause. He got involved on-camera in a video the organization produced to share his family’s story and used his social media presence to share it. On Jan. 1, 2022, a regional sports network aired a special about Covey’s promotion of Bridle Up Hope shortly before Utah played Ohio State in the Rose Bowl later that day.

After the special ran, Holgreen said Bridle Up Hope had more men calling in to inquire about the program for their daughters and wives than ever before.

“It was a different demographic,” Holgreen said. “I feel like it’s usually the moms and the daughters coming and touring and they’re telling the dads about it. And suddenly, we have this huge male presence of empowerment that I loved. He just brought it to the world in a different light.”

Last year, Covey said the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative came up too quickly on him and he wasn’t able to participate. This season, he made sure to give the Eagles ample notice that he wanted to represent Bridle Up Hope. The pink and black cleats bear an opaque white horse and Rachel’s name, an ode to the catalysts for hope at the center of the organization.

The Covey family’s vision is to partner with 1,000 barns across the globe, bringing Bridle Up Hope to 100,000 girls and women every year. Sean said he hopes that the organization’s logo, the pink horseshoe with seven nail holes, one for each of the 7 Habits, will be as recognizable one day as the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness.

“We hope the pink horseshoe will become a global symbol of hope to help young women make it through these tough years,” Sean said.

Covey sported his Bridle Up Hope cleats last week against the 49ers and will do so again on Sunday when the Eagles take on the Dallas Cowboys. Even when he isn’t wearing the shoes, Covey still carries Rachel’s memory with him, on and off the field.

“I think you get in a locker room and realize how many differences there are,” Covey said. “But when you go through things like this, you realize that down to your core, everybody’s the same.

“It really helps you treat everybody the same with the same love, respect. With the same attention, with the same importance.”