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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
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The WAG who prefers horses to handbags: Michael Owen’s
wife Louise reveals her greatest passion: rescuing racehorses
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Lying motionless on the frozen ground after being thrown
from her horse, Louise Bonsall could hear screaming.
Then she realised it was her own voice. Just seconds earlier
she had been riding Isobelle, her flighty chestnut mare,
when the horse reared up and unseated her.
Isobelle lost her balance and more than half a ton of horse
flesh crashed down on top of Louise’s slender frame.
There was a moment of searing, white-hot agony, and then
numbness.
Images of her family – England footballer Michael
Owen and their eight-month-old daughter Gemma – flashed
through Louise’s mind.
In that split second of horror and panic, she feared she
was paralysed.
Despite marrying one of the country’s most famous
footballers three years ago, Louise Owen is not a stereotypical
WAG.
You won’t see her falling out of nightclubs, nor does
she regard shopping and cosmetic surgery as competitive sports.
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Her priorities are her family first and her horses second.
She and her husband guard their privacy fiercely – in fact
Louise, now 28, has never before given an interview.
Shy, modest and with a quiet intelligence, she has decided to
speak out in her capacity as patron of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation
Centre in Halton, Lancashire, to draw attention to the plight
of horses – a subject close to her heart.
It is nearly 20 years since Louise first met Owen at Rector Drew
Primary School, in Hawarden, Clwyd, North Wales.
Later they both attended Hawarden High School where they became
teenage sweethearts.
While Michael was a brilliant young footballer, attracting the
attention of Premiership scouts from the age of ten, Louise was
always horse-mad.
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‘I started riding when I was about seven,’ she
says.
‘My brother Andrew and I had riding lessons at the
weekends. That’s where the passion grew. It quickly
fizzled out for Andrew but I really enjoyed it. I started
spending the weekend at the riding school, helping around
the yard, and then I started exercising friends’ horses
for them.’
Her parents, businessman John and Sue, bought Louise her
first horse, a Welsh cob called Rolo, when she was 14.
‘They finally gave in to me begging them every day
for a horse,’ she laughs.
‘Every morning I would be at the yard at 6am mucking
out and as soon as I finished school I would be back there
until it was dark.’
In July 1995, when Louise was 15, she suffered her first
serious riding accident. ‘My Mum and Dad had gone on
holiday to Florence but my brother and I stayed at home,’ she
recalls.
‘I was thrown off my horse, landed on a big pile of
bricks and broke my femur.It just snapped like a carrot.
I was in hospital on traction for 13 weeks. My parents had
to drive all the way back.
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‘It was boring because I couldn’t get out of bed.
I missed a lot of school and spent most of my time revising for
my GCSEs and watching telly. In the end we decided to sell Rolo
to an instructor I knew. I cried, although I knew he was going
to a good home.’
Despite her unwanted stay in hospital, Louise went on to pass
her GCSEs, leaving school in July 1996. She took a GNVQ in business
and finance at Deeside College in Clwyd, but gave up riding temporarily.
‘It was just a timing thing – maybe age and money
as well. It’s not cheap to own a horse.’
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After leaving college, Louise joined credit-card company
MBNA.
Michael, meanwhile, quickly established himself at Liverpool
and in February 1998, aged 18, he became the youngest player
to play for England in the 20th Century.
But it was his unforgettable goal against Argentina in that
summer’s World Cup that propelled him into the football
stratosphere.
Still, by footballers’ standards, his tastes remained
modest – his new home was a £200,000 property
in Hawarden.
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Indeed, for years Owen eschewed most of the trappings of an
international superstar, his only extravagance being the purchase
of five houses, all in the same street in Ewloe, North Wales,
for his parents, brothers and sisters.
In June 2002, Michael and Louise moved into a £1.6million
19th Century Grade II-listed house in Northop, North Wales, which
they renovated with the help of Michael’s sister Lesley,
an interior designer.
Michael also invested in his first racehorse, Treble Heights.
He now owns eight thoroughbreds.
During this time Louise did her best to avoid the publicity
that inevitably came with being a high-profile footballer’s
girlfriend by enrolling on an equine science course.
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‘My Mum had bought a horse called Woolly, which we
shared, and I got the bug again,’ she recalls.
‘I decided it was something I wanted to do. But I didn’t
finish the course because I became pregnant with Gemma.’
Within a couple of months of her birth in May 2003, Michael
bought her Isobelle, a Belgian Warmblood that had been bred
for showjumping.
In January 2004, Louise was schooling the ‘stroppy’ Isobelle
while Michael was watching.
When he then returned to their house, Louise continued her
work.
It was then the accident happened – as without warning
Isobelle reared up, lost her balance and landed on top of
Louise.
‘It was very painful, but afterwards I just felt numb,’ she
says.
‘I was terrified of moving in case I had hurt myself
badly. It crossed my mind that I could have been paralysed
but I could move my feet, which gave me a degree of comfort.
Michael heard me screaming and raced back.’
Michael accompanied her in the ambulance to the Countess
of Chester Hospital, not knowing whether she would ever walk
again.
‘I had broken my back in two places, my hip and my
pelvis in five places, but the breaks weren’t displaced
so I was very lucky,’ says Louise.
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She spent three weeks in hospital while Michael cared for
their daughter.
‘Gemma was too young to understand I wasn’t there.
‘It was probably harder for me being away from her.
My Mum used to bring her in during the day and then Michael
would bring her in for the evening.
‘We kept a baby-walker in my room and Gemma used to
bomb up and down the corridors.’
Louise’s main fear was that she might not be able
to give birth naturally again, but this proved to be unfounded.
The couple’s son James was born in February 2006 and
daughter Emily arrived last October.
‘I do get some backache but so do all mothers,’ Louise
says. ‘I get a little pain in my hip but nothing I
can’t live with. I’m not sure whether it is linked
to the accident or it’s because I carry three kids
around.’ She was also worried initially about how the
accident would affect her riding.
‘The consultant said, “You should be able to
ride by July,” but actually I was back in the saddle
in March. I was nervous but when I sat down everything felt
fine and I was away.’
Move to Spain
The accident marked a turning point in Louise’s life.
Instead of focusing on training her dressage horses, she
decided to devote much of her energy to rehabilitating former
racehorses. ‘The accident made me realise how lucky
I am. I felt I wanted to do some charity work and give something
back.’
Louise became a patron of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation
Centre, the only charity in Britain dedicated to the welfare
of former racehorses.
It rehabilitates and retrains them, before finding them a
new home.
The charity’s operations director, Nicola McDonald,
says: ‘Four to five thousand horses leave racing each
year for a variety of reasons, such as age, injury or lack
of ability. We are a safety net for them because these are
flighty, spirited horses. They are not like a steady cob
and so they are unsuitable for novice riders.
‘We assess them and then, after a settling-in period,
slowly bring them back into work and accustom them to being
ridden. Louise obviously has a great affinity with and love
for horses. She’s a lovely, down-to-earth girl and
we’re lucky to have someone like her dedicated to raising
the profile of the cause.’
Louise says: ‘Each horse is treated individually and
the charity finds them a home that is right for them. None
of the horses that come to the centre are sold. They are
loaned to experienced riders, who are used to thoroughbreds
and horses with unpredictable characters.’
Seven months after her accident, Owen joined Real Madrid
and the family moved to Spain.
‘I enjoyed certain aspects of it but we both found
it hard being away from family and friends and the place
we had lived all our lives,’ she recalls.
‘Some people can adapt well to different cultures and
travelling, but it wasn’t right for us.’
Owen’s spell in Madrid would prove to be fairly short.
In August 2007, he moved to his current club Newcastle United
in a £16million deal.
At first Louise moved to the city, but since the arrival
of James and Emily, she and the children have lived at their
Flintshire manor house. ‘The children are quite a handful,’ says
Louise. ‘I have a nanny who comes in the mornings during
the week. Michael can’t commute every day but he comes
back on his days off. I lived with him in Newcastle for the
first couple of years but then Gemma needed to start full-time
education and we had to make a decision about where to live.
We have more of a support network here. It’s not ideal
but it’s not that bad either.’
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While Michael is in Newcastle, Louise cares for the
children, their dogs Poppy, a Staffordshire bull terrier,
and Tank, a French bulldog, and, of course, their eight
horses.
These include Etienne Lady, a brood mare named after
the French city where Michael scored his famous goal
against Argentina, and two of their retired racehorses – Speciali
and Talk To Mojo.
Louise’s mother, Sue, is a regular visitor to
their home and Gemma already owns two ponies.
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‘She loves riding,’ says Louise. ‘Hopefully
she’s her mother’s daughter.’
The Owens spend much of their time together at home but
also enjoy trips to the races.
‘We love Chester because it is our local course and
we will go to nearly all the meets during the year,’ says
Louise.
‘It’s nice to go to Royal Ascot, too. It’s
lovely to put your fancy hat on. If there’s an England
game and Michael’s playing I see the other wives and
girlfriends I know, but I don’t see them much socially
outside football. Most of them are in London and I am in
the depths of Wales. We all have busy lives.’
Owen is expected to concentrate on his racehorses when he
retires from football.
‘People have written and gossiped about my gambling
for years and I will happily confirm that I love the buzz
from backing a winner,’ he said recently.
‘They are probably less aware of how much time and
energy I have dedicated to learning about the sport. ‘I
never have a flutter'
‘If I was to appear on Mastermind – not that
I am volunteering – flat-racing would be my specialist
subject. It is also likely to be my career once I have finished
scoring goals.’
‘Racing is very much his thing,’ agrees Louise.
‘I’ve been brought into it through him, although
we obviously shared a love of horses. Some of our horses
we breed ourselves. Others we buy at the sales. Michael has
a lot more knowledge about the pedigrees and bloodlines whereas
I have more of an eye for the horse’s movement. We’re
a good team.
‘We have a trainer, Nicky Vaughan, who runs the day-to-day
business, but Michael and I often spend mornings at the gallops.
We both believe in looking after ex-racehorses. I can rest
easy if I know that a horse we’ve raced, which has
no career left in the game, has a good home for life.
‘It’s our responsibility to rehome it, whether
it is here or elsewhere. That’s why I became involved
in the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre.
‘You are never going to change the racing industry.
A lot of owners don’t have a real interest in horses – they
are in it for the love of racing. When the horse is not winning
any more they want to send it to the sales. That’s
just the way it goes.
‘But things are improving and there is now a lot more
awareness of the need to care for racehorses once they have
retired.’
However, there is one interest the couple do not share – gambling.
‘I never have a flutter. I love watching the horses
in the parade ring and trying to guess which is going to
win. But I never give Michael tips.’
Louise donated her fee for this article to the Thoroughbred
Rehabilitation Centre.
Donations can be made on 01524 812649 or
visit www.thoroughbredrehabilitationcentre.co.uk
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