Gemma Owen's Sirius Black Died Unexpectedly

Dressage

Great Britain

Former British junior team rider Gemma Owen has lost her number one in the bar, Sirius Black. The black gelding died unexpectedly on 3 February 2023.

Sirius Black was an 18-year old Hanoverian gelding by Stedinger out of Regentin (by Rotspon x Borneo). He was bred by Johann Bernhard Tuitjer.

Auction Price Highlight

The black first started his sport carer in his birth country Germany.

Owned by Heinz Jansen, Sirius Black was first competed by Sabrina Schroers in three A-level dressage horse tests in February and March 2009.

In May 2009 he became the auction price highlight of the Hanoverian May Auction in Verden, where he sold for 62,000 € to the late Jane and Aram Gregory.

Peter Storr - Sonia Banes

Sirius Black at the 2009 Hanoverian May auction

Sirius Black was first shown by Jane Gregory herself, but her untimely death in April 2011 prompted the horse move to Peter Storr's stable.

Storr trained him up to Prix St Georges level, but alternated the ride with his assistant. He first competed Sirius Black in March 2012, while Calum Whitworth showing him a few months later. By 2013 the horse reached Prix St Georges level and was third in the 2013 British Prix St Georges Championships.

In 2014 Sonia Baines began campaigning Sirius Black. They were 13th in the 2016 British Prix St Georges Championships

Gemma Owen

In 2017 Sirius Black sold to the Owen family but Baines retained the ride and piloted the horse down his first international centerline at the CDI Hartpury in July 2017, followed by the CDI Saumur, where they were second in the Prix St Georges

In May 2019 Gemma made her national show debut on Sirius Black and in September 2019 she premired as a junior rider on the gelding at the CDI Waregem in Belgium. A month later she rode him at CDI Keysoe.

In the 2020 corona year Gemma did not travel to the continent but twice presented him at CDI Keysoe with consistent results. In 2021 they proved form at the CDI Wellington Heckfield and were nominated on the British team for the 2021 European Junior Riders Championships in Oliva Nova, Spain, where they finished 46th in the individual test with 66.941%.

It was their last international as a pair and Owen's last CDI in her career, so far.

Sarah Higgins

Gemma and Sirius Black continued to compete at national level. She was 8th at the 2021 British U21 Championships in September 2021 and last showed in March 2022.

In the late spring of 2022 the 19-year old Owen focused on promoting her swimwear and accessories' business by participating in the reality TV show "Love Island" (aired summer 2022), which garnered her fame and glory in a certain segment of society.

In this period Sarah Higgins took over the ride and showed him at CDN Keysoe in April. The pair was 18th and 16th in the British PSG - Inter I Championships in September 2022.

Gemma returned to the competition ring in October 2022 and as an aspiring young rider showed Sirius Black at Prix St. Georges level through January 2023.

Died Unexpectedly

Sirius Black sadly passed away on 3 February 2023. He was turning 18.

"On Friday we lost my horse of a lifetime due to a sudden and severe illness," Gemma posted on social media. "Words can’t describe how much this horse meant to me and my family, he was truly one in a million Everyone who met Siz will know how amazing and caring his temperament was. He was taken far too soon, he has left us all heartbroken and in complete shock."