‘I love racing so much I don’t want to stop’: new career goals for dressage rider Gemma Owen
A new TV series documenting Michael Owen’s family life features Gemma’s foray into the racing world from dressage, and how she’s stepping up to the new challenge
Gemma Owen is carving out quite a career for herself in the equestrian world. While millions of TV viewers know her from the 2022 season of Love Island, in which she finished runner-up, horse sport fans know she’s an accomplished dressage rider, who represented Britain at the junior European Championships. And now racing’s getting a look-in.
She’s still competing in dressage, currently at inter II on her Polish-bred gelding King Ron-P (Ron William x Corleone Z), who has won at grand prix with Sarah Rao.
“Ronnie is a grand prix schoolmaster,” Gemma says. “He’s not the easiest ride – he’s quite complicated, but incredibly talented, so amazing for teaching me all the harder movements.
“He’s teaching me a lot, in terms of the grand prix movements and also patience and resilience. He is amazing.”
The latest equestrian string to Gemma’s bow is her recent foray into the racing world. Over the past year, she’s transformed herself from the long stirrups and deep seat of the dressage world, to raising her irons and galloping down the home straight at “Glorious Goodwood” in the Markel Magnolia Cup at the end of July.
The transformation is captured in detail in a new Amazon Prime docuseries, Meet The Owens, a six-episode insight into the Owen family’s daily life, produced by Whisper.
A scene from Meet the Owens, with Gemma and her mother Louise leading Shetland pony Bert
Gemma, the eldest child of England football star Michael Owen (not to be confused with the five-star event rider of the same name), is portrayed as she starts from scratch in her quest to become a jockey. There are thrills and spills, hard work in the gym, hours on the equicizer – and ultimately the charity race goal.
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Gemma describes her early gallops as “humbling”, with a stark contrast between the two disciplines.
“I’ve trained dressage for as long as I can remember, and how the dressage horses are and how the thoroughbreds are is completely different,” she says. “My position when I’m riding dressage to going up the gallops is completely different as well.
“It took a while to fully adjust. Your stirrups are so unbelievably short and I remember when I first started riding out and I thought my stirrups were short, I look back and I literally look like I’m a dressage rider that wanted to do a bit of jumping or something. It was humbling.
“But I’m getting there,” she adds. “My legs and lower body I found OK; it was more my upper body strength that I found more challenging and had to develop.”
Horses galloping at Michael Owen’s Manor Farm Stables, where Gemma rides out
But however tough the challenge, there’s no question which Gemma deems harder overall.
“Nailing the perfect test is definitely harder [than winning a race],” she says. “There is so much that goes into dressage, and you are dealing with the tiniest, tiniest detail. You’re constantly chasing the perfect picture. Which obviously is subjective to a certain extent.
“Racing, there are loads of different challenges – I have to concentrate in a different way when I’m riding dressage to when I’m going up the gallops.
“It’s just a completely different way of riding. It’s not necessarily when you’re going up the gallops, it’s more the stopping and starting, walking to the stables, from the collecting ring, all of the little bits in between you just have to be so on it.
“These horses are so young and you just can’t switch off, they will spin round and go off with you! Learning to control the pace up the gallops is something I had to learn. If you pull the reins that doesn’t necessarily mean stop, it means they take a hold and we’re going faster. So I’m like, ‘If I can’t pull the reins how do I stop?’ But it’s all learning.”
“I thought, ‘if pulling the reins makes them go faster, how do I stop?’”
Gemma Owen adapts to racehorses
Dad Michael was known as one of the most competitive strikers of his era. Now he’s running Manor Farm Stables, a Flat racing yard with trainer Hugo Palmer, he’s channelled that ambition to a new sphere.
Gemma admits she’s no match for his intense drive.
“Dad is more competitive,” she says. “I’m extremely competitive and want to do well in everything I do, but Dad is ridiculously competitive. When it comes to card games or a family quiz, whatever it is, everything has to be a competition.
“Mum, on the other hand, when it came to the Magnolia Cup was like, ‘enjoy the experience, enjoy learning a new discipline’. I think I’ve got the best of both of them I’d like to say.
“Dad and I have a lot of similarities. One of the first things Dad says about me on the show is ‘she’s a female version of me’ which is kind of accurate. I do think in a similar way about a lot of things. I’m extremely driven, focused, competitive and determined.
“When I set my mind to something I want to achieve it and put as much in as I can and get the best out of it. In those ways we’re similar.
“But because of my mum’s slightly different approach, I try to enjoy the journey and learning of a new skill as much as it does kill me when I don’t do as well.”
“Dad is so ridiculously competitive. When it comes to card games or a family quiz, everything has to be a competition”
Gemma Owen
When it comes to the dressage, Michael has been happy to take a back seat. There’s a hilarious (and very relatable to most riders) moment where Michael is prancing around his lawn as if he’s practising a dressage test. But that’s about as far as his involvement goes.
He’s been crazy about racing, however, since he was a child. And there’s a scene in the show where Gemma goes upsides on the gallops when she wasn’t meant to – and goes really fast. Cue frosty exchange between dad and daughter.
“In dressage he’d support from the sidelines but he’d never tell me how to ride, whereas the racing he knows a lot more, he’s more passionate about, he’s more knowledgeable,” Gemma says. “When you’re learning something new there are a million things you need to think about and we had a miscommunication.
“We were meant to be going single file, and I came up upsides, which now I know is a completely different thing and the horses know they’re racing each other, as opposed to just cantering nicely.
“I had to learn that the hard way but I think having Dad here and passionate about the racing stables is incredible and I’ve learnt a lot from him.”
When it came to riding in the big race, it nearly didn’t happen at all. Michael relates how she had a fall on a racecourse gallop at Southwell a few days before – but somehow she was back in the plate in time for Goodwood.
Gemma riding in the Magnolia Cup on Turbo Trotter
She finished fourth – on a miler called Turbo Trotter for whom the sprint distance was far from ideal. Not good enough, says Gemma, who rued her own bad start.
“I was frustrated with myself – I completely missed the start,” she says. “I made up good ground and finished the race strong. The horse gave me an incredible ride and I’m so happy to have ridden him. But I should have been more on it and ready for the start to go at any point. Yup, I’m competitive.”
As for what the future holds? Will she carry on racing?
“Yeah! And dressage! I’m going to try,” she says. “Racing’s completely different, but I love it so much I don’t want to stop.
“I love the people, I love the horses , I love the routine and the involvement I’ve got here now. So if I can do both, I will. Racing in the morning, dressage in the afternoon.”
How to watch Meet the Owens
Meet the Owens is a six-part documentary series following former England striker Michael Owen and his family as they run a horse-racing business and manage their home life.
UK/IRE: Stream via Amazon Prime Video in the UK and Ireland.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.