Tryon, N.C. – The Katydid Combined Driving Event at Tryon International Equestrian Center was the host for the 2025 USEF Driving National Championships for Ponies last week, and a total of 10 new national champions emerged from the event.

Phillip Odden (Barronett, Wisc.) took home the Intermediate Pair Pony National Championship with Odden’s Ildar (Smedsmo Graen x Odden’s Wood’s Eirose), his own 2008 Norwegian Fjord gelding, and Odden’s Tellinor (Unknown x Odden’s Josefine), his own 2019 Norwegian Fjord mare, on a score of 153.41.

photos @Sharon Packer

A longtime breeder of high-quality Norwegian Fjord horses, Odden and his wife, Else, travel to Florida in the winter to train and compete, and their Fjords have excelled throughout the season.

With the USEF National Pony Driving Championships held in Tryon, many competitors working their way north made the event their goal.

Living the Norwegian Life with Horses, Art and Travel

Since 1997 Phil and Else have raised, trained and bred Norwegian Fjord Horses on their farm. Phil has studied Fjord Horse conformation with experts from North America, Norway, and Denmark. Phil and Else use their horses for Combined Driving Events, pleasure driving shows, light draft work around the farm, trail riding, and as pack horses. Each year, they compete in their Fjords in carriage driving events nationwide. They travel with their horses to spectacular areas in the mountain states to ride and camp in National Forests, national parks, and wilderness areas.

Phillip Odden is also a professional woodcarver, Vesterheim Gold Medalist, and instructor at Vesterheim Folk Art School. He trained at the Hjerleid School in Dovre, Norway, and he and his wife, Else Bigton, have a workshop near Barronett, Wisconsin. Together, they authored the books Treskjærer Kunsten (The Art of Woodcarving) and Laerebok i Treskjaering (Textbook in Woodcarving).

Learn more about Phillip and Else on their website

Norsk Wood Works, Odden’s Rural Life Tours and Odden’s Norwegian Fjord Horses