Local realtor, horse judge Lisa Moden reflects on industry’s impact on her life, community

At an American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) show, only a select few will have a golden trophy or buckle placed in their hands, a rosetta draped proudly around their horse’s neck and a professional awards photo to capture the momentous win. 

For that winning competitor, despite being on the arena floor, victory feels comparable to standing on top of the world. 

From the stands, a parent or spouse watching their loved one achieve this win might argue they instead have the prime spot. 

And the owner of the horse who won, posing beside the winning team in the photo, likely views their vantage point as not too shabby either.

However, for professional breed show judge Lisa Moden, one of the best and most rewarding seats in the whole house is center stage of the arena. 

Moden has claimed Whitesboro as her home for the last 27 years or so, but before planting roots in Texas, she grew up in Western Kansas on a farm that raised ranch horses and grew wheat fields. 

Horse-crazy from the start, she spent her youth immersed in 4-H and open shows, competing in a variety of all-around events.

After attending college for a year at Lamar Community College—a horse training school in Lamar, Colorado—Moden worked for various trainers and started her own training business in Nebraska before moving to Texas in 1997. 

“When I moved to Texas to train horses, I worked for (professional horseman) Pete Kyle, and we did a lot of disciplines,” Moden said. “We did all of the all-around events and the reining, and it always interested me.” 

At the time of learning the ins and outs of training western pleasure and all-around horses, Moden also discovered her passion for judging, though the process of becoming one wasn’t instantaneous. 

“I had already judged a few open shows and really liked it, so I decided to pursue the judging,” Moden said. “It was a lot of studying and learning all of the events and all the penalties. I worked hard at it, and I applied for my AQHA card first around 1999. At that point, I knew I wanted to do more, so I waited a year, and then I applied for my APHA and my NRHA cards... It was a lot of studying in those two years.”

Currently, Moden holds an AQHA, APHA (American Paint Horse Association) and NSBA (National Snaffle Bit Association) card, but that’s not to say it was particularly easy to acquire them.   
When Moden began her judging journey, you couldn’t necessarily pick one discipline to specialize in – you had to know how to judge the whole class roster. 

“There are so many events that we have to be qualified for to judge at the breed shows,” Moden said. “Each division has their own scoring system that you have to learn, and each division has a different set of penalties. Being able to differentiate all of those classes and get the penalties right is a lot of studying… We have to know the rule book and pass a closed rule book test that goes over all of the judging criteria.”

Although Moden can now be more selective about what and where she judges, that personal standard of versatility is one she remains committed to – especially when that versatility gives her the opportunity to judge the best stock. 

“I judge full-slate shows. I can do everything,” Moden said. “But I’ve gotten to the point where I can be choosy about where I go. There are a lot of times the bigger shows will be five or ten days, but those are always fun to judge because the quality is so good.”

In an industry always changing, an increase in the quality of horses being shown is always something that can be counted on. 

“There are excellent horses in every discipline, but it’s being able to separate those horses at the top that are excellent,” Moden said. “A judge has to keep up with the changing trends and be able to recognize the higher quality. I spend a lot of time going to some of the bigger shows, even if I’m not judging, to watch and sit with some of my peers that are judges.”

It’s not just the judges that need to be familiar with the changing trends. Although the rule book is of course crucial to the judge, Moden also believes the competitor should have a firm understanding of it.

“What’s so important is to know the rule book. The rule book is the foundation, and it tells us the fundamentals of judging and showing,” Moden said. “If you just go to a horse show, and you don’t really read the rule book and know what your event is about or how it’s really scored, you’re not doing yourself justice. So, when I was showing, I learned that I had to keep up with the rule changes each year.” 

Alongside her judging career, Moden is also a North Texas real estate agent and credits the horse industry as a major component of the thriving home market in Whitesboro. 

“What you find in the equine industry as a whole is that there are so many moving parts. The horse is the starting point of the industry in our area,” Moden said. “Whitesboro just has continuously grown to where now we have the best of the best horse trainers and owners in this area. It keeps our market for ranches and housing blooming – and we’re just talking about horse training. The breeding program is a whole other industry, and it’s huge.”

When looking at the programs of breeding and training in Whitesboro side by side, the two crafts form the backbone of much of the area’s employment and economy.

“With the breeding and training side, you have to filter down what keeps both of those industries going,” Moden said. “You have the breeders, then you have the trainers, the horseshoers, the veterinarians, the feed stores, the tack dealers, the saddle shops, the chap makers – you name it. It’s a tier of everything that makes an industry come together.”

The horse industry does more than just support the housing market and economy in Whitesboro; it also serves as a pillar for the entire community. 

“It all started with the love of horses. That’s why I moved here,” Moden said. “And just the community of horse people themselves is large. It’s a big group of horse enthusiasts here, and you have a friend on every corner.”

Through these experiences, Moden has seen firsthand how horses have shaped her life and the lives of those around her. However, the perspective that judging has given her will always be held especially close.

“My job in the arena is to find the best horse in that class, on that day, and be able to place them accordingly. It’s really rewarding to be able to separate the best horses, get the great ones at the top and reward them for their excellence,” Moden said. “But beyond that, once you stand in the middle of that arena, you understand more of what you are seeing all the way around, and you look at things a little bit differently.”

Perhaps that very outlook is the thing that gives Moden the best seat in the house on show day. 

That trophy or buckle doesn’t just magically materialize into the hands of the winning competitor at the AQHA show – someone has to be the one to crown that horse and rider as champions. 

And although accomplishing that win is an exceptional feeling for the competitor, getting to present that win to a remarkable horse and rider is the moment Lisa Moden most cherishes.