Yvonne Losos de Muñiz: A Foot in Two Worlds

Text By Karen Robinson
Photos by Cealy Tetley

She is the only dressage medalist from the 2003 Pan American Games to return to the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2007, and Yvonne Losos de Muñiz has proven her consistency by adding a second bronze medal to her Pan Am resumé. This medal means something very different to the first one, which she won on home soil and as part of a team in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. “It’s totally different here,” she says shortly after the medal ceremony. “I don’t have the team, and last time it was my home country. I think I get as nervous and stressed no matter what the circumstances – I don’t think that really matters. But today was for me and for my husband. It was also for my country of course, but it wasn’t for anyone else like it was in Santo Domingo.” The experience is also different this time around because she is on Bernstein Las Marismas, and not Inatana Las Marismas, her last Pan Am partner. “This was a lot harder than four years ago because the horse I have is younger and inexperienced. He was originally supposed to be my reserve, but my first horse unfortunately got injured.”

Yvonne Losos de Muñiz is an uncommon example in the dressage world: an established international competitor who comes from a developing nation, one that was not even in a position to send a team to these Pan Am Games. Her position straddles opposite ends of the sport, the result of which is a divided lifestyle and conflicted opinions about the Pan Am Games.