You can bet the competitive juices run rampant in the Scheifele household. Read More
The wife of NHL star Mark Scheifele is back doing the sport she has always loved but took a 10-year hiatus from in 2013.
The wife of NHL star Mark Scheifele is back doing the sport she has always loved but took a 10-year hiatus from in 2013.
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You can bet the competitive juices run rampant in the Scheifele household.
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But when it comes to horses, well, it’s obvious who has the undeniable advantage.
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“It took him a little bit to warm up to the horses,” Britt Scheifele said of her husband Mark, the Winnipeg Jets’ star. “I don’t want to say afraid … but tentative. He doesn’t like the bigger horses and mine are big. It’s taken him a little bit to warm up, but now he’s getting into it. He loves coming and watching the speed classes and seeing what others are doing.
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“It’s fun to have that spirit in our house for sure. There’s always a bit of a game to win and do better at. We’re intense … but we have fun.”
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Scheifele has indeed been having a blast during the Spruce Meadows summer series, back doing the sport she has always loved but took a 10-year hiatus from in 2013. During that time, she explored other horse activities, rodeo, polo, and was a Stampede princess. But the road, eventually, led back to show jumping.
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“During COVID, my husband was in Florida skating and we pulled up next to the skating rink and all of a sudden I was like, we’re in Wellington which is the horse capital of the world,” she explained. “So I was like, if you’re going to skate every day, could I maybe ask someone if there’s a horse I can ride.
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“I’ve been back at it for three years now. I missed it. I tried all the other disciplines but I love jumping.”
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Time away, however, did take its toll.
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“Honestly for me, I was a little nervous,” she conceded. “I’d had a few concussions. I just wanted to be safe. When I first started, my goal was to jump 1.20 (metres) and I did that. My horse took me all the way up to the metre-40 and anything that I was scared or nervous about, she has a fighting spirit but it calmed me and helped me find the confidence to get back. Without her, I don’t know where I’d be.”
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Born and raised in Calgary, Scheifele was on the equestrian team at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Horses were an integral part of her early life.
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“My mom actually kept her horses here (at Spruce Meadows) and trained under the riding master Albert Kley,” she said. “So to come back — and my grandmother gets to come watch — it’s really fun that my mom started her riding journey here and now they get to come see me enjoying mine.”