How Big Should My Roping Arena Be?

With more people becoming involved in the sport of team roping each year, more and more roping arenas are being built for them to practice. Because of this, one of the most common questions we get at NRS is “How big should my arena be?” Since most ropers want to practice like they compete, I decided to get ahold of a couple of the leading producers in the country to see what they had to say when it came to setting up an arena and what equipment you'll need at home, and I’ll even add my two cents in at the end.

Chutes and Boxes

Our first call was to Mason Johnson, who handles most of the arena setup and activities for Jx2 Productions. Along with being the prominent team roping producer east of the Mississippi, Mason plays a big part in setting up the team roping arenas at both the USTRC Finals and The Patriot. Although many arenas don’t allow for his perfect setup of 250’ in length all the time, some guidelines that he tries to follow are to not set the center of the chute gate more than a third of the width of the entire arena away from the right fence. For example, if your arena is 150’ wide, you don’t want the center of your chute to be more than 50’ away from the right fence. With an arena that wide, the common distance from the center of the chute to the right fence is going to be between 30-40’, having boxes set at 12’6” wide. Having the center of your chute set off the right fence this far helps prevent your heelers from getting pinched off on the fence during the run. Boxes that are set right along the right fence do not allow a heeler to help set up a run and have an effective practice.

Along with chute placement, Mason would also prefer to set the stripping chute to the right of the Priefert roping chute on the opposite end. He also prefers a steer to have to turn right into the stripping chute and will set up the arenas that way if space allows. A right entry into your stripping chute is much safer, especially for beginner ropers who may rope one at the bottom end of the arena. This prevents from dragging a steer into the panel when turning left. This type of setup will also help keep your steers running straight, longer.

From Chute to Chute and Back Again

Our next call was to Jett Sharp, who is the USTRC and Ariat World Series of Team Roping Event Manager. Just like Mason, Jett also has some guidelines that he follows to set up the best arena possible for the roper and longevity of the cattle. Starting with the boxes, Jett likes to have the boxes set at 12’ wide, with the possibility to adjust the depth of the box from 17’ to 22’ deep. This allows for realistic practice in both a regular barrier setup and also on a World Series barrier. Another one of Jett’s “musts” is to set your stripping chute towards the right back corner of the arena with the return alley on the right side of the arena to prevent your steers from stepping left. He also adds that an 8’ wide return alley is ideal for being able to push steers up without having them turn back on you because once a steer learns to turn back, it is a very hard habit to get them to break. The 8’ return alley is also big enough to bring cattle up horseback and turn your horse around without getting them in a jam with either fence,

One other tip Jett has for building your practice pen is to set your cattle pens behind your stripping chute in the back right corner. This will also help extend the roping life of your practice cattle, keeping them running “home,” straight down the arena.

Time Tested

Now I’ll weigh in on the topic since I’ve been involved in team roping production for almost 20 years, in multiple capacities, from the chute crew (a mandatory role when your dad is the production manager for over a decade) and arena set up, to production manager, and now an announcer. Our arena, growing up, was much like the dimensions Mason and Jett mentioned. It is 240’x150’, with a right-hand entry into the stripping chute, cattle pens at the back right, and the 8’ return alley on the right side. Our lead-up, or snake, to the roping chute, is made of panels and is 22” wide, which seemed to be ideal for all types of cattle, preventing freshies from turning around and still allowing our bigger, older cattle to pass through easily. Our boxes are 12’ wide at the back, flaring to 13.5’ at the opening, and are 16’ deep. Our chute is only about 30’ from the right fence, which can get a little tight, but it is still manageable. It also seemed to be a pretty functional setup as my younger brother started to breakaway rope and progress into tie-down roping. 

 Ready To Build

Hopefully, these guidelines help you make some decisions when you’re laying out the arena on your property. If you’re going to be starting and training young rope horses, you may want to add some length to the arena to allow for tracking the steer longer, but somewhere around these dimensions is ideal for the majority of jackpot ropers. Although each setup is different, they all share some commonalities that make them functional for all levels and types of ropers with goals of getting the most out of their practice, utilizing their space available, and keeping their cattle from becoming roped out. To ensure you’re getting all of this done, it is also worth a phone call or email to one of our arena specialists who have several different prepackaged arena kits available at NRS. No matter if you choose an arena kit, choose to build your arena to your own specs from panels and need the boxes and chutes to go with it, or if you’re going with pipe all the way and just need a chute and some gates, NRS has you covered with thir selection of Priefert, Chute Help, and Quicksilver arena equipment! Give us a call at 800-467-6746 for all your arena needs!