Odden's Norwegian Fjord Horses

Odden's Norwegian Fjord Horses Training, Competing and Breeding High Quality Norwegian Fjord Horses Phil and Else train, compete, and breed high quality Norwegian Fjord Horses.

The horses became a natural outgrowth of our wood carving business after the studios were moved from down town Barronett to the 80 acre farm located 1 ½ miles from Phil’s birthplace. The couple’s goal is to raise and train well mannered, gentle, athletic fjord horses of the highest quality. To this end Phil and Else have attended the evaluators training sessions in Fjord horse conformation and mov

ement given by the NFHR. They have traveled to Norway to study fjords in their native country and meet the people who breed the best fjords in the world. We take pride in having well behaved horses trained to ride and drive. During the winter we hitch our horses to ornate hand carved sleighs, then carts and wagons when the snow leaves. Our farm is located near several miles of county woodland riding trails. The horses are handled several times each day as we have integrated the horses with our rural artisan lifestyle. For us the fjord horse is living folk art.

04/10/2018

Family Horse Basic Training Skills:

02/04/2018

My Friends the Trees As an adult I live amongst my friends the trees by choice not by chance. As far as I can recall trees have always been my friends. While growing up on a small dairy farm in Northwestern Wisconsin I learned at an early age to appreciate the wide variety of trees in my life. The t...

Arrya Gaspar driving Odden's Josefine today at the Ashland Sleigh Parade. Arrya's little sister Xantha is riding the sle...
01/15/2017

Arrya Gaspar driving Odden's Josefine today at the Ashland Sleigh Parade. Arrya's little sister Xantha is riding the sleigh with her. The hand carved sleigh was made by Phil Odden. Josefine is wearing an antique Norwegian harness.
Josefine is an athletic gray Fjord with ground covering gaits. Arrya handles her well while little sister is looking forward to her turn to drive.
Photos by Else Bigton

Seven people from three States took me up on my offer of a Christmas driving/horsemanship clinic. In addition there were...
01/01/2017

Seven people from three States took me up on my offer of a Christmas driving/horsemanship clinic. In addition there were a few people who chose to audit the clinic. We enjoyed doing ground work skill building, thought about conformation and form and function in the horse with regard to driving suitability. We worked on understanding and promoting rhythm and relaxation, inside-outside rein, proper contact and working rather than running. A couple people brought their own horses for the clinic and the others used my horses. During the clinic we used 6 different Fjords from my herd. There was time for each person to drive different animals each day and at the end of the clinic we did a sleigh ride on our farm trails.
People involved a variety of interests including pleasure driving, parade and sleigh rally performance driving, therapeutic driving, and Combined Driving Events. We had time together to enjoy our horses as we learned new tricks and enjoyed one anther's interest and experience in the horse world.

Last week we came home from a ride in the Beartooth wilderness in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. We rode a coup...
09/05/2016

Last week we came home from a ride in the Beartooth wilderness in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. We rode a couple trails out of East Rosebud Lake and some trails off the West Boulder river. Else and I were joined by our dear friend Alyssa Mathews from Colorado. Else rode her steady mare Marcy while Alyssa and I traded off with the red duns Odden' s Frode and Odden's Ildar. The trails were steep rocky and challenging with knock dead grand spectacular scenery. These were the most challenging trails that we have ridden so far. The ride included a couple of narrow rock ledges with mountain on one side and scary long drops on the low side. We learned that the Fjord ponies didn't want to fall off the ledge anymore than we did! Must be something in their DNA from way back in Norway.

Frode and Ildar along with Sweet Pea will be going to Villa Louis Carriage classic come Thursday. Hopefully the mountain trails did them some good. It certainly made us feel good, especially when we made it home safe and sound.

Arrya, Else, and I were showing out Fjords in different classes at Blue Earth Minnesota this past week. Arrya and I drov...
07/24/2016

Arrya, Else, and I were showing out Fjords in different classes at Blue Earth Minnesota this past week. Arrya and I drove Frode and Ildar in pairs. Arrya rode Frode and Sweet Pea and she drove Sweet Pea single. We shared Sweet Pea in the log skid. A good time was had by all.

Columbus Carriage Festival Else and I showing our red dun Fjords Odden's Frode and Odden's Ildar Arrya and Robert Gaspar...
06/13/2016

Columbus Carriage Festival
Else and I showing our red dun Fjords Odden's Frode and Odden's Ildar

Arrya and Robert Gaspar showing Odden's Karoline ( Sweet Pea )

01/11/2012

The snow is about gone and the sleighs have not moved. Training horses indoors these days. Been riding two colts. The brown dun gelding Ivar and the gray gelding Idar. Kind of fun to get them going. Ivar is a real tall fjord and the gray is smaller and lighter but very sweet. Steady winter training time is what makes good horses come spring. Phil

01/05/2012

Today at long last we have three sleighs on the lightly snow covered ground. Yesterday was the first run for my reds Ildar and Frode on the sleigh together. It went well. Most places we went there was very little snow but then we would get into snow drifts that were almost deeper than the horse legs were long. At that point they started to lunge and we headed for better footing. But they did it and at least we are moving forward. Next we will start hauling in fire wood on the bigger sleigh. Phil

12/27/2011

So winter training season is well under way here on our farm. The snow is so thin that we can't use the sleighs. The indoor arena is very handy. Training several young Fjords to replace my veterans for CDE and Pleasure. been doing a lot of long lineing, driving singles and pairs. Plan to post more pictures and video clips in the future. Else has a new Ipad that makes it much easier. Phil

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04/19/2011

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20337 County Road H
Barronett, WI
54813

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