Erin Kellerhouse and Ringwood Adios Amigo. Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.
Two horses made it to the top for the first time. Two have been there several times before.
The 2026 Woodside Fall International, held from October 2-4 at The Horse Park at Woodside in Woodside, Calif., offered FEI competition from the one-star to four-star levels of eventing. In addition, competition took place at national levels from Introductory up to an Advanced combined test.
The CCI4*-S at Woodside’s third and final USEA-recognized event of the year served as the final of 20 qualifiers in the US Equestrian Open of Eventing. Five years ago, Erin Kellerhouse won the level at this event with Woodford Reserve (Tinarana’s Inspector x Laharns Laughton). That same year, she started competing Ringwood Adios Amigo (Adieu Z x Ringwood Operetta) at Beginner Novice, the lowest USEA-recognized level at that time.
Five years later, the 10-year-old liver chestnut Irish Sport Horse gelding has brought Kellerhouse back to four-star. “Amigo” won with a score of 60.0. It was their first victory in 13 FEI competitions.
“The journey with him hasn’t been easy,” Kellerhouse said. “He’s a super strong, tricky horse in the contact, which has made dressage hard and control on cross-country hard.”
However, she’s found a recipe that combines her dedication to the journey with the challenges of a move-up to four-star to produce a horse that is a true “amigo.” “I feel like the jumps are finally big enough to back him off,” she said. “He was wild in show jumping. He always is when he jumps before cross-country. I’m so happy I’ve persevered with him. He’s my really good friend in the barn. He’s got a wonderful character.”
Reserve champions were Tamie Smith and Spiro P (Spiros Z x Ugomein). Smith clinched the US Equestrian Open with five CCI4*-S victories in the series in 2026: 1) Carolina International (NC) with Lillet 3 (S.I.E.C. Livello x Princess L; 2) Ocala (FL) with Jump To Day D (Up To Date x Nicola D); 3) Kentucky Three-Day Event (KY) with Lillet 3; 4) Tryon (NC) with Danito (Dancier x Wie Musik); and 5) Twin Rivers (CA) with Danito.
“It was never my intention at the start of the season to chase the US Equestrian Open series title, butonce it became a real possibility, it added another exciting dimension to our season,” Smith said.“I feel incredibly fortunate to have the string of horses I have right now and, even more importantly, the amazing owners and team behind them who make it possible for me to compete at this level.”
As the series winner, the California-based rider on the U.S. national team will be awarded $25,000 prior to the $200,000 US Equestrian Open Eventing Final at Morven Park in Virginia from Oct. 9-11. Smith will ride Danito in the finals. “I think the US Equestrian Open series has brought a really positive energy to American eventing, giving riders another goal to chase and creating more excitement around our top-level competitions.”
James Alliston and Made By Leontine EB. Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.
The CCI3*-S was the largest FEI level at the Woodside Fall International with 23 entries. The 14 riders for them included five that have represented their countries at Olympics, World Championships, or Nations Cups: James Alliston (United States), Tamie Smith (United States), Lauren Shady (Puerto Rico), Hawley Awad (Canada), and Saulo Tristao (Brazil).
Alliston and Made By Leontine EB (Scuderia 1918 Casago x Jackpot E.B.) won and are now three-for-three in CCI3*-S competitions. However, this victory came in different fashion than at the Twin Rivers Spring and Fall Internationals.
At Woodside, they climbed up the standings after being ninth after dressage. Their show jumping during Friday’s FEI Happy Hour presented by Harrell Design + Build was one of only six double clears at the level. Their cross-country, with zero jumping penalties, was second-fastest, only to Alliston’s other three-star horse, Berry (Crelido x Quzimodo VD). Alliston and “Leo” finished with a score of 35.3, edging Shady and Clearsky (Clearway x O-Corrado II), who were also reserve champions at the level at this event last year.
“He definitely galloped really well and has been improving over time,” Alliston said. “I feel like he did that quite easily. I did this Intermediate last year [at Woodside], and he did well and won it, but he was having to work at the cross-country, maybe tiring a little at the end. I feel like he did it easily this time. He was going fast, in the heat as well.”
Alliston attributes Leo’s fitness to racehorse training techniques by incorporating faster, shorter gallops, particularly after show jump schooling. The 9-year-old grey Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Arnell Sporthorses has now finished first or second in 16 of his last 17 USEA-recognized events, with the only blemish to that streak coming when a lost shoe knocked him out of the CCI3*-L at The Event at Rebecca Farm in Montana in July. “He’s had a great year—so competitive,” Alliston said. “It’s nice to have a horse like that.”
Shady and Clearsky returned to and had the same result at the same level and same event that was her first FEI completion since giving birth to her first son, Ben, in March 2025.
“Now I’ve been running him for a year at Intermediate, and it’s so fun,” Shady said. “He manages everything for me. I trust him implicitly now. It’s been really fun to to be at the level. He steps up for me when I need help.”
The Puerto Rican Olympian said she hopes to qualify Team Latoni’s 11-year-old grey Holsteiner gelding, as well as their 9-year-old bay Holsteiner gelding Kingston 60 (Kingsroad x Anka VIII) on whom she finished seventh in Woodside’s three-star, for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. “It’s really nice to have two really quality horses at the level, and I see a future with them that looks good,” Shady said.
Stephanie Goodman and Elwenda DP. Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.
Elwenda DP (Westpoint x Wenderola P) has been the horse Stephanie Goodman has turned to for big moments in her career. Their win in the CCI2*-S at the 2023 Woodside Fall International was Goodman’s first in FEI competition in “at least in the last 20 years,” she said at the time. (Her USEA show record goes back to 1995.) In 2026, the rider from Boise, Idaho, moved up to four-star with the bay Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Deanna Briggs and won the CCI4*-S at Aspen Farm in Washington in the US Equestrian Open.
Saying “she’ll always be the barn favorite, she’ll always be the princess,” Goodman also turned to “Esmée” for a confidence-boosting run at Woodside in coming back from surgery to her collarbone as result of a fall in her previous FEI event.
“I just wanted us to come back and have a great confidence run and have a blast and giggle, and for her to think she’s the princess that she is,” she said. As the oldest horse in CCI2*-S at Woodside at 17 years old, the diminutive 15.2 hh mare full of boldness and big jumps led from start to finish to win with a score of 32.7.
“She’s better than she’s ever been—it’s insane,” Goodman said. “Every time I bring her out, I ask, ‘What do you want to do?’ because she doesn’t owe us anything and I’ve ridden her her entire eventing career. ‘Do you want to do more? Do you want to do less?’ And, every time, she wants to do more—better and better.”
Goodman said she plans to return to the four-star level with Esmée at the end of the month at Galway. “It’s remarkable because she’s really little, and she really isn’t bred or built for jumping,” she said. “The only reason she’s so good is because of her mentality and she wants it and loves to do it. At Advanced, her first jump into water was above her withers.”
The youngest horse in the two-star, 6-year-old MBF Dig Deep (Golddigger x Amber), was reserve champion with Andrea Baxter. The bay Dutch Warmblood gelding was the USEA Young Event Horse 4-Year-old West Coast Champion in 2024.
Salma Kuhlmann and Rayito de Sol SE. Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.
After finishing second in the CCI1*-S a month prior at the Twin Rivers Fall International in California, 15-year-old Salma Kuhlmann and 9-year-old grey Belgian Warmblood mare Rayito de Sol SE (O-Calvin Klein SE x O Gigi SE) won the CCI1*-S at Woodside. She and “Reyna” led after each phase andfinished with a score of 29.0.”
Winning this event was really special for me and Reyna,” Kuhlmann said. “It felt like we had finally figured each other out, and it was so rewarding to see the growth in our partnership reflected in our score. We’ve had some struggles with dressage in the past, but this weekend, every phase came together at once.”
The young rider has worked her way up the levels with Reyna, starting their partnership in USEA-recognized events at Beginner Novice at the Woodside Summer Horse Trials in 2024. Woodside is their local venue, so Kuhlmann said about her first FEI blue ribbon and second victory in a USEA-recognized event, “It also felt even more special to win on home turf with all of my friends and family there supporting me.”
“Winning was such a great way to wrap up our season, and it made me appreciate how far Reyna and I have come in our two years together,” she added.
Rayito de Sol was bred in America and continues to be owned by breeder Rose Sullivan. The mare and Kuhlmann took part in this year’s Modified Match at the Woodside Spring Horse Trials, where The Horse Park puts the spotlight on the level that represents the bridge between the lower and upper levels of eventing. Then, the Woodside Summer Horse Trials featured The Horse Park Founders’ Cup Novice Stakes that put the spotlight on one of eventing’s lower levels. The Woodside Fall International is where the upper levels became the focus with these storybook results in FEI competition.
