Pan Am Games Rider Vera Protzen Dies After Riding Accident

Dressage

Argentina

The German born Argentinian dressage rider Vera Beatriz Protzen died unexpectedly on 2 November 2020 after a riding accident.

Vera was 45 years old.

Double Pan Am Games Rider

Protzen has competed at two Pan American Games and has been an international competitor since 2004.

She made her international show debut on the KWPN gelding Kadirmo (by Landwin II B out of Adirmie). She rode her first championship, the South American Games, in 2004. They were held at Haras el Capricho in Buanos Aires, Argentina, where she finished 12th in the Kur to Music.

Her first moment of glory came at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she finished 5th overall in the individual ranking.

Protzen had a long break from international showing but returned to the CDI arena in 2012 aboard Solaguayre Country Knight, a Holsteinerby Country Man out of Remonta Fugitiva. She competed him in the CDI Rosario, Sante Fe in June 2012 and two years later in the South American Games in Quillota, where they were 7th overall.

Another long break from the international spotlight followed, but in 2018 she returned on her third international horse, Wettkonig, a Hanoverian gelding by Weltmeyer x Sandro Hit), which she bought from Chilean Maria Cristina Rosas. In 2018 and 2019 the new pair rode the Pan Am Games qualifiers in Buenos Aires and were selected for the Argentinian team.

At the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, the duo finished fourth in the Intermediaire I (71.529%) and seventh in the Kur (72.585%). They were also the 2019 Argentinian Small Tour Champions.

Decorated Rider

In 2007 Vera received the Silver Olympia Award as Best Rider of the Year in Argentina. The award was presented by the Sports Journalists Circle in Argentina. The same year she also received the Silver Jorge Newberry Award as Best Rider of the Year in Argentina.

She served as head coach of the Bolivian equestrian team that won silver at the 2009 Bolivarian Games in Sucre, Bolivia.

Riding Accident

On 2 November Vera was training a 6-year old horse at her riding stable Las Vizcachas and was discovered in the field with severe trauma to her head. Signs indicate that both horse and rider had fallen, fatally injuring the rider.

Vera was immediately rushed to the hospital Capilla del Señor on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, but did not make it.

She leaves behind her husband, farrier Gabriel Bengochea. They had no children together.