International eventer James Alliston has a solid resume after representing the U.S. on several Nations Cup teams. In July 2024, he and Karma, his and Ric Plummer’s U.S.-bred Oldenburg mare, helped the U.S. Eventing Team earn a second-place finish at CHIO Aachen in Germany. Also, they finished as the highest-placed U.S. combination in ninth place.   

Alliston’s journey with horses began as a child riding in England to now representing the U.S. on the world stage. He has tallied numerous top international placings and CCI5*-L completions. He made his senior Nations Cup team debut at the 2022 Boekelo CCIO4*-NC-L in the Netherlands with Nemesis. Alliston returned to Boekelo the following year with Karma, and they finished as the top-U.S. combination in 14th place. James operates his training business, Alliston Equestrian, with his wife and fellow international eventer Helen Alliston in Castro Valley, California. 

Heading into the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, Alliston is ready to show the depth of his string of horses. He has Karma entered in the CCI5*-L, and Cora and Irish Pop in the CCI4*-S.

Below is an excerpt from a past Practical Horseman Podcast episode with James Alliston (Episode 101, released July 26, 2024). Alliston talks about what he enjoys about eventing, his horse Karma and his training philosophy. 

A Passion for Eventing

Q: What do you like about eventing and why do you feel like you gravitated towards it rather than a different discipline? 

JA: I love the all-around test of horsemanship and skills that eventing offers. I think you really need a wonderful partnership with the horse to do it. And there’s so much training that goes into it because there’s the three disciplines and the time spent working on the fitness with the horses. So, I just really like that part of it. I think there’s also many different sorts of horses that can succeed at the very highest level. You can take off-the-track Thoroughbreds. You can take horses that maybe aren’t necessarily superstar talents, and if they have the heart for it and the desire, they can be successful at the highest level.

Q: What do you think it is about horses and the sport that have kept you involved on this career path? 

JA: I think I’ve had some wonderful horses and I’ve been really, really fortunate. When I first came to America, the first horse I bought was from Bonnie Mosser. She got him off the racetrack and hadn’t done a show or anything, so he was relatively inexpensive. That horse was an amazing horse named Parker. He did so many five-stars. I was young and the horse was too, so we sort of learned together. He was just a brilliant, brilliant horse and so tough. He did season after season of advanced and five star and that really got me going. I had some really nice other horses—Jumbo’s Jake and Tivoli—when I was very young, so I think was really fortunate to get those good horses early.

You get a nice taste for the big competitions and that’s where you want to be and what you want do. Since then, I’ve just been lucky, but you need help. And I’ve been lucky with supporters and my clients here, who have enabled me financially to keep doing it.

Now as I get older, I’m trying to stay healthy and not fall off too much. It’s one of those sports where you get better with experience as long as you can stay healthy enough. So that’s the balance really where I’m at right now, but I’m really enjoying it. 

Karma’s Origin Story

Q: Tell me about your horse Karma.

JA: It’s a really cool story, actually. She was bred on the West Coast by the Crowley family. Katie Crowley is an Advanced rider out here from Oregon, but she trains with our friend Andrea Pfeiffer at Chocolate Horse Farm. Karma has some siblings that Katie rides at the Advanced Level, so Karma has a mother who’s been a good producer.

When Karma was young, Andrea phoned me and said, “We’ve got this horse and she’s going to be a little bit tricky. Maybe not so good for Katie because she freezes.” Karma would freeze in the ring. This was before she’d ever done a show or anything. You worry with those horses whether they’re going to throw themselves on the ground or do something strange.

Andrea sent Karma to me, and after a couple of weeks, we talked and I said, “I’ve got her going now. But now she wants to go 100 miles an hour around the arena. But she doesn’t freeze anymore. We got over one thing, but I sort of created another monster and I can’t really sell her for you.” Andrea knew how talented Karma was and what a good jumper she was, so she said, “Would you just want to have her and see what you can do with her? I’ll talk to Katie and her family, and hopefully we can just give the horse a chance. She’s obviously incredibly talented and see what happens.” It’s a good example of the eventing and the community how cool it is when everyone sort of gets together and helps each other.

That’s Karma’s story. She was a little difficult getting going on the flat, but she always been an incredible jumper. Now, I like to think the dressage is catching up and getting a little bit better, and the jumping is great. She’s so fast, so careful, so quick and all of that. I’m really excited for the future!

Alliston’s Training Philosophy

Q: How would you describe your training philosophy? 

JA: I tend to be quite slow and patient. I get a lot of my horses very, very young, and we break them and get them going. I’m all about building the partnership with the horses. I tend to not buy horses or get horses that have are already gone at a higher level. I’ve had most of my horses from their very first riding experiences, and then I go with them. I think that’s huge in in our sport, especially in the cross country—the partnership. To make them go and jump into the Head of the Lake [at Kentucky] or something like that they have to jump, I feel like you build that trust out hacking the first time when they are a three-year old. Does the horse go where you want him to go and does he trust you and believe in you? I think you generate that during the initial experiences. It sounds weird, but if they whip around out hacking, I really don’t like that for the cross country. If I can’t hack down the road, how am I going to jump that massive five-star fence away from the stables, you know?

Also, I rode for Gerd Reuter, a German dressage guy who worked closely with Will Coleman, and he always said, “Ride with love.” I love the horses. They’re all sort of my babies because I’ve had them most of them from a young age. So, we try to be patient, ride with love and see what happens. 

Q: Do you have a favorite training exercise? If so, why is it your favorite, and can you describe it? 

JA: I’ll chuck a few poles down in the arena set on bounce distances. It sounds very, very basic and easy, but the foundations of jumping and riding are coming in balance, having the horse where you can place him well at the jump and he’s rideable. And I think that translates to whatever level you’re doing, whether the horse is just learning how to jump or the horse is a five-star horse. Can you present the horse to a jump in a good way, in balance and at a speed appropriate for them to negotiate it? You don’t need to jump mountains to practice something simple as cantering a ground-pole exercise. You can really train your riding to be accurate and also train the horses to listen to you and be ridable. I normally have some poles on the ground in the ring anyway, and I’ll just pop through those quite a lot on all the horses.

Check out more Kentucky Three-Day Event coverage.

Thanks to Kent Nutrition Group and Blue Seal for our coverage of the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. It includes lead-up events, rider interviews, competition reports, horse spotlights, photos, videos and more.