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Steve Wolgemuth

If you're looking for someone to help you with your dressage business, you want somebody who understands both worlds—the unique realities of the dressage industry AND what it takes to build a successful business.

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That's what I bring to the table.

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In 1993, I was the 4th ranking US rider coming into the North American Championships, behind Michael Poulin, Steffen Peters, and Carol Lavell. I lived the dressage professional's life—training, teaching, competing, and breeding. In 2000, I focused on importing and by 2002, built the most active importing agency in the US at that time. I helped both amateurs and professionals find quality horses, most notably, Verdades for Laura Graves. 

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A Second Career

When health challenges ended my riding career in my late forties, I started over completely. In 2006, I founded YDOP, a digital marketing agency serving clients across multiple industries. Over 17 years, I built it from a solo operation to a team of 25 professionals, grew revenue to seven figures by 2016, then doubled revenues by 2022 and sold the company in 2023. Along the way, I learned the business operating systems, financial management frameworks, and leadership strategies that create sustainable success.

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Can You Relate? 

During my dressage career, I had a job, not a business. I was talented and successful, but I was working IN the operation without the systems and strategic clarity needed to build something that worked for me. My second career taught me everything I wish I'd known back then—and that's what I'm bringing to other dressage professionals now.

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My Approach

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My Approach

I don't tell you what to do or give you cookie-cutter solutions. Every dressage business is different. Instead, I help you build the specific business that fits your strengths, your market, and your vision.

 

My role is to:

  • Ask the right questions based on experience in both arenas

  • Help you recognize patterns and opportunities you might miss

  • Facilitate peer learning with other professionals who understand your challenges

  • Help you set goals and provide accountability for reaching them

  • Adapt proven business frameworks to the unique realities of dressage

 

This approach comes from years of personal investment in my own business development—nine years in CEO peer advisory groups with Convene, three years with Agency Management Institute, participation in High Center mastermind groups, and customized implementation of the Entrepreneurial Operating System. I've been the client in these programs, which taught me practical lessons on coaching models, mastermind groups, and business systems. 

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A Background You Can Benefit From

In The Dressage Industry:

  • A Top-ranking USA Grand Prix Rider by 1993

  • Sought-after clinician who trained riders who became professionals, Grand Prix competitors, and USEF judges

  • Built the most active dressage horse importing agency in the US by 2002

  • Involvement in dressage horse breeding spanning 40+ years and ownership interests in several approved stallions in Europe.

     

Business Success:

  • Built and sold a seven-figure digital marketing agency (2006-2023)

  • Recognized as Small Business Person of the Year among 15,000 business owners in Central Pennsylvania (2017)

  • Author of The Crucial 12, winner of the Internationally coveted Axiom Gold Medal for business authors (2020)

  • Deep experience with proven business operating systems and peer-based learning models

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Is This For You?

Dressage Professionals works with trainers, clinicians, riders, and other equestrian professionals who want to build sustainable businesses. The program is intentionally small—I work with 8-12 professionals annually in a mastermind format that combines group learning with individual coaching.

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This isn't about motivation or generic business advice. It's not performance coaching or ways to ride a better test or overcome a training challenge. 

 

It's about building the business that works for your unique situation, using frameworks that have been proven across industries but adapted specifically for the realities of the dressage world.

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Are You Ready To Grow?

If what you've read here resonates, submit an application. It takes about 10 minutes and gives us both a sense of whether this partnership makes sense. There's no commitment on either side—just the start of a conversation about where your business is and where you want it to go.

I review every application personally and reach out to those I believe would be a strong fit for the program.

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