Bridle Up Hope is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation with the mission to inspire hope, confidence, and resilience in young women through equestrian training. Our story began with a girl named Rachel Covey who loved horses. Rachel battled with depression for many years, but found great fulfillment in helping other struggling young women find hope through riding horses. Rachel's family recognized the bond that exists between a girl and a horse--a bond that a can help a girl build confidence and overcome personal struggles. In 2013, in Rachel's memory, the Coveys started Bridle Up Hope to help other struggling young women. Bridle Up Hope was designed to provide a transformational experience for girls when life has never been harder on them. Girls face relentless pressure to live up to impossible expectations—to have the perfect body, be skinny, be pretty, be popular, get perfect grades, be athletic, and so forth—which often leads to low self-worth, anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Our Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) curriculum teaches girls to recognize their inherent worth and potential, and to approach life with correct paradigms of themselves and others. The program combines equestrian training, life skills development, service at the barn, and self-renewal activities, with principles from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People integrated throughout. With chapters currently in Utah, the Netherlands, and the Caribbean, our vision is to license the Bridle Up Hope curriculum to existing barns throughout the U.S. and in select countries, eventually reaching 1,000 chapters.
