Lari Dee Guy has had decades to plan and perfect her roping arena design, and now she has two arenas that work seamlessly together with a series of pens, gates and alleys.
See how the nine-time WPRA World Champion has designed her facility for ease of use and simplicity with this video from Roping.com.
If you’re fortunate enough to have multiple arenas, lay them out so the calf pens can be used for both arenas.
“I have two calf traps, and both traps come in to the pen so I can push them to my outside pen and rope,” Guy says. “If I decide I want to rope inside, all I do is push them through to a pen that connects to the indoor catch pen.”
Even if you just have one arena, designing pens so they can be used for multiple purposes like feeding, doctoring and loading can prove the most efficient and cost effective.
Lari Dee Guy’s Swing Transformation Lessons
“My covered pen is 125 foot wide and 300 foot long. This return alley is seven foot wide, which is wide enough that I can still rope in it and train horses in a straight line, but not too wide that my steers and calves turn back.”
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While there are many gates in Guy’s facility, there are two that make life particularly easier.
“This is my gate I use when I track calves around. I can tie it back and push calves down the alley, out and around. And I have some accordion gates that can shut the [chutes and boxes] off. It keeps a constant flow when tracking—there’s never a corner a calf can get in and stop.”
“I set my whole arena up where I never have to get off my horse. I can work everything on my horse and by myself. I have this cut gate where, if I open it, the animals coming into my steer roping chutes on the [right] side of my arena. If I leave it open, the calves come right on by and make the corner to come to the calf side [on the left].”
Lari Dee Guy’s other favorite gate is the steel cut gate that either send steers to the team roping chute on the right side of the arena, or—when closed—sends calves around the back to the chute on the left side.
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