Top Line Sporthorse International,LLC

11/10/2026

We train to compete , join us for the upcoming winter season Hailey Rogge Christian Rogge at our home base Event Venue, Boutique B&B, Bistro & Equestrian Center motivated and committed riders of all equestrian levels and ages ( yes , we train ponies and their riders) are welcome.
Tell us about your needs and your goals in riding and how we can make your dreams come true in our program

11/03/2026

Older photo 🤠but text is up to date 👍🇩🇪

! 🔥 This week, meet another one of the original UDJC judges, Christian Rogge!

If you’ve shown in a UDJC Style class, chances are you’ve met Christian! He is passionate about the correct development of jumper riders and horses, making his knowledge and experience especially valuable in his role as a UDJC judge.

Much like UDJC’s founder, Christian is originally from Germany, where he grew up riding and competing regularly. 🇩🇪 He first came to Texas for a visit in 1991 and returned in 1995 to stay!

Today, Christian is based in the greater Houston area, where he operates Topline Sport Horses. As a trainer of both horses and riders, he brings his German-based equestrian education and approach to developing riders here in the United States. He also regularly returns to Germany to evaluate prospective horses.

Christian’s commitment to education extends beyond his own program. At UDJC shows, riders have the opportunity to benefit from his knowledge through thoughtful judging and constructive feedback they can use to continue developing both at home and in the show ring.

We’re proud to have Christian as one of the original judges who has helped shape UDJC from the beginning! 🐴🇺🇸

10/30/2026

Hip, knee and ANKLE joints get it done , folks👍

10/29/2026

Changes are here and we from Top Line Sporthorse International stand behind David and the UDJCLUB movement and are supporting their philosophies, guidelines and rules. Moving forward in this sport is going back to the roots of the equestrian sports focusing on the basics of riding and competing with horses and bringing people of all ages , levels and background together. We all can be thankful for their efforts and work.

10/15/2026

We are going to put both reins in the outside hand ( the hand that is facing the outside of the ring ) and just try to ride a straight ( quarter ) line by using just one hand and and a firm inside ( lower) leg , see where it gets you. If you use both reins just with one ( the outside) arm you can not pull, yank on the inside rein anymore but have to use the inside leg more instead and you get the feel for getting out of that habit.

If there is one habit that shows up consistently across every level of developing rider it is the overuse of the inside rein. The horse falls in so the rider picks up the inside rein. The turn is not coming quickly enough so they add more inside rein. The circle is drifting so they hold the inside rein tighter. Before long, the rider is carrying the horse around every corner and every circle with their inside hand doing the majority of the work while everything else - the outside rein, both legs, the seat - has quietly become secondary.

The inside rein is a useful aid. It asks for flexion but it cannot steer a horse correctly on its own. When riders rely on it as their primary tool for bend and direction, the problems it creates are often worse than the ones it was trying to solve.

Here is what actually happens when the inside rein becomes the default answer. The horse may bend through the neck without the rest of the body following. The head and neck go where the rider wants them and the outside shoulder drifts out completely unchecked because nothing was ever addressing it. Or the opposite happens - the horse falls further inward, loses balance through the shoulder, and becomes more and more dependent on the rider holding the inside rein just to stay vaguely on the line. In both cases, the rider thinks they are steering the horse but what they are actually doing is controlling the head while the horse goes wherever it wants with the rest of its body.

The turn does not come from bending the neck. It comes from organizing the whole horse through the movement of your inside leg creating energy and maintaining bend, outside rein controlling the shoulder and regulating the pace, outside leg supporting the haunches, inside rein asking softly for flexion and then giving. That is the conversation. The inside rein is one small part of it and it is specifically the part that needs to ask and then release rather than hold continuously.

A simple exercise that makes this immediately visible is to ask the rider to ride their circle and then deliberately soften the inside rein for a few strides. Not drop it but to soften it. What happens next tells you everything about where the rider actually is with their outside aids. If the circle holds and the horse stays organized, the outside rein and inside leg are doing their jobs. If the circle immediately falls apart, the horse drifts inward, or the rider panics and grabs the rein back within two strides the horse is not actually being ridden through the outside aids yet. The inside rein has been compensating for that gap and the softening simply made it visible.

Another exercise worth building into your lessons regularly is to ask the rider to think specifically about the outside shoulder as they ride each corner and circle. Where is it going? Is it staying between the reins or drifting out? Is the outside rein in contact and doing anything or is it slack while the inside rein does all the work? Placing cones or poles along the outside track of a circle makes the outside shoulder drift immediately obvious because the horse runs out of room to escape through it and the rider has a concrete visual reference for whether they are actually containing the movement or just bending the neck.

The goal is not to stop using the inside rein but it is to stop asking it to do jobs it cannot do well on its own. A correct turn is not produced by pulling the head to the inside. It is produced by the whole horse staying balanced and organized through the bend with every aid playing its appropriate role. When the inside rein takes over the other aids stop being used and the horse stops being ridden correctly regardless of how the head and neck look from the rail.

Teach your riders to think of the inside rein as the aid that opens a conversation and then steps back. The outside rein is what holds the conversation together.

How do you teach your riders to stop relying on the inside rein? I want to hear what works in your arena.

10/13/2026

If you do not enjoy just being with the horse ( when e.g. grooming, riding or handling/caring ) you do not have the sense of it, it is that simple.
We here at Top Line generally enjoy working with horses for what it is : the passion and love for being with the horse on a daily basis in training and/or also in competition. Success in the show ring comes by itself if you and the horse enjoy being together as a team, ribbons are simply a by-product of passion, good riding, fundamental horsemanship, love and respect of the creature horse ( yes , they have a soul too) .

10/07/2026

*Why we're not seeing diversity and small breeders/operations competing and winning end/of-year classes*

We've made the sad choice not to compete Crouton in the 4 year old Young Jumper finals.

The Young Jumper Championships has been our goal all year. We have some amazing homebreds coming up that we couldn't wait to show off. They've had a great summer and we're ready and able to do the Young Jumper Championships at Woodside this year. The location made it one of the only opportunities we will get to do this.

However, having horses that are ready and able is such a small part of the game.

Here's a list of the factors that led us to our decision:

- We're a small program. Where and how we spend our money matters. There isn't an unlimited supply.

- to participate in the Young Jumper program we must pay an additional $300 ($750 if we wait until next week) to enroll each horse. This is unrelated to any show fees. Just another unjustifiable fee.

- Show cost - it's an expensive show. Example- $500 for a stall

- the 4yo Final is a $4,000 class. This means that if we win both the $400 qualifier and the $4,000 final we would win a whopping $1320. It would not cover even just the show bill (classes and fees only) if we WON.

- fuel is over $8/gallon in California. It's going to be about 11 hours each way to get the the show, and that's a relatively close show for us. Rough and conservative estimate puts us at $658 just for fuel.

- All our annual memberships are expiring next week. Since USEF and USHJA are separate we have to renew multiple memberships per person. Even though only one of us is riding, because we aren't going to pay a 3rd annual membership to have our horses listed under our business name (which is actually correct), both of us would have to renew our memberships for one of us to compete the horse. That's four memberships we'd have to renew this week to go.

- by the time breeding season was over and we went to start competing our horses and looking towards the championships, we found that no shows in Washington or Oregon were offering any Young Jumper qualifiers. That means that unless we took Seven all the way to southern California just to do a qualifier class, it was not possible for us to compete in the 5 year olds (4 year olds don't have to qualify before the championships). Despite taking to the woman who runs the program explaining the situation, they would not allow another class of equal height to count as a qualifier (an open class would be harder both in technicality and height than a qualifier). I spoke to show managers about offering the classes (it is only a $100 fee the show pays to run the classes), I was told we could "talk about it for next year".
Practically, this means that unless you're already in California, it's not realistic to be able to compete in the West Coast Young Jumper Championships. It's worth noting for those that don't live on the West Coast that even though we live in Southern Oregon, it is a 17-20 hour drive for us to get to Southern California.

I've spoken to two other accomplished breeders/developers of young jumpers that have decided not to attend the championships for a lot of the same reasons we did.

If you pay attention you'll notice that a lot of the same barns, trainers, and breeders compete and win the end of year classes. There's a reason for this, and it's not because smaller programs aren't producing and developing quality, able horses. It's just that the bigger programs have the access and ability to actually compete their horses.

It's not a test of who the best young horses are - and not a demonstration of the breeders and trainers on the west coast - not by a long shot. It's simply for those programs already living and competing in the thicket of California showing.

As of now there are only four horses entered (two riders total) in the 4-year-old championship and only two entered in the 5-year-olds. This is NOT because of a lack of ready and able horses.

Team Northwest Equestrian Sports United States Hunter Jumper Association - USHJA US Equestrian West Palms Events