After growing up in England, eventer James Alliston has made a name for himself with numerous top international placings, CCI5* completions and appearances on several U.S. Nations Cup teams. He made his senior Nations Cup team debut at the 2022 Boekelo CCIO4*-NC-L in the Netherlands with Nemesis. In 2024, James and Karma helped the U.S. Eventing Team earn a second-place finish at CHIO Aachen in Germany and were the highest-placed U.S. combination in ninth place.

Five-star eventer James Alliston, shown here giving Nemesis a pat for a job well done after their show-jumping round at last year’s Kentucky Three-Day Event, joins Team Prac to help you and your eventing horse excel in the sport. Click here to sign up for Practical Horseman+ to submit your question to our Team Prac members! ©Amy K. Dragoo
  • Hometown: Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire , England
  • Homebase: Castro Valley, California
  • Family: Married to Helen [Alliston]; James and Helen own and operate Alliston Equestrian, where they enjoy training horses and teaching students in the sport of eventing.
  • What first drew you to horses? “When I was about 4, we moved to a house in England where there was a pony next door. Our neighbors said we could ride him, so my mum taught my brother and I to ride. After this introduction, I kept going and was a member of the Minchinhampton Pony Club in Gloucestershire.”
  • Favorite pony growing up: A Welsh pony named Nimrod.
  • Career highlights: “Being in the top 10 at the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event with Karma and coming in second with the U.S. team last year with Karma at Aachen where we were in the top 10 individually. I would also say winning at Rebecca Farm in Montana with Paper Jam a few years ago. He probably has to try a little bit harder than some of the other horses to get the wins at that level, so that was a really cool one. And then all those early wins when you haven’t won anything before was always super exciting. Winning with Jumbo’s Jake at Galway Downs, which is a big four-star long  in California, in 2011 was a super exciting win.”
  • Mentors: “I worked for Bruce Davidson Sr. for a while, and he’s been a great mentor. I feel like now I learn from observing top riders like Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin and Will Coleman as well as team coach Leslie Law. I also rode for Gerd Reuter, a German dressage trainer who worked closely with Will. 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.” 
  • Most influential horse in your career: “Most recently, Karma. She’s a 2014 U.S.-bred Oldenburg mare owned by Alliston Equestrian and Ric Plummer. Parker was another great five-star horse earlier in my career that I got a lot of experience on. When we first came to the U.S. he was the first horse I bought. Parker was an off-the-track Thoroughbred I bought from Bonnie Mosser who didn’t have any show experience, so he was relatively inexpensive. We were both young, so we sort of learned together. He was brilliant and so tough and did season after season of five-stars that really got be started. I also had some really nice other horses like Jumbo’s Jake and Tivoli when I was very young. I was very fortunate really to get those good horses early and that sort of nice taste for the big competitions and that’s where you want to be and what you want to do.”
  • Competition superstitions: “I don’t like to change too much from the last competition if it’s gone well. If it hasn’t, I will make sure I alter something, even if it is a very small detail.”
  • When you’re not riding, where can we find you? “I play a lot of tennis outside of the horses.”
  • Four-legged family members (besides horses): “Our dogs are Duncan and Fiona, and we have two barn cats named Salem and Mario.”
  • Favorite meal: Chinese food.
  • Favorite book and/or movie: Harry Potter
  • Mares and geldings? Mares!
  • What’s kept you involved in the sport for so long? “I really enjoy the daily journey of trying to improve the horses and myself. 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. There’s so much training that goes into it with 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 are also many different sorts of horses that can succeed at the very highest level and I enjoy working with all of them. You can take off-the-track Thoroughbreds and horses who maybe aren’t necessarily superstar talents, and they have the heart and desire for it, they can be successful at the highest level.”

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