Last month, his more than 60 years of racing and breeding trotters saw him awarded the New Zealand Harness Racing Outstanding Contribution Award.
The 86-year-old described receiving the award as out of this world.
"I'm still, still getting over it, to be classed ... in the same era as Maurice Holmes and all the real top guys I've known, and they were champions, to win the same trophy is mind-boggling."
Born in Roxburgh in 1938, Mr Woodhouse said he rode ponies and was always keen on becoming a jockey.
The Woodhouse family found the first gold in Roxburgh, had the first farm and opened the first hotel, he said.
In 1950 the Roxburgh Trotting Club had just started and as a 12-year-old he carted water from his farm to the racecourse.
Mr Woodhouse went to the first tote meeting at Roxburgh, where he remembered trainer Ray Jones brought three horses to race.
Mr Jones won with Lady Brigade and Mr Woodhouse, then aged 12, got the opportunity to drive Lady Brigade back to the farm.
Mr Woodhouse bought the first of many horses in 1959.
"I bought her for 23 quid and two quid for the cover and she turned out to be ... the foundation mare of a very, very, very good family."
That family was the Pat family of horses named after Mr Woodhouse’s late wife.
Mr Woodhouse could not remember the exact number of horses he trained over the years but could remember he trained between 35 and 40 winners.
As well as training horses, he also raced them from 1973 until 1985.
He raced on 32 tracks around New Zealand and won six races as driver, four out of six of those races on the horse Princess Pat.
He continued to train horses until 2021 when he decided to hand in his trainer’s license after a fall left him with two broken ribs and issues with his balance.
Despite having retired from training horses, Mr Woodhouse continued to help out at the Omakau Racecourse where he helped looking after the track.
Mr Woodhouse said he had had a pretty full life and there was little he would want to change.
