Over the years, Spin To Win Rodeo Magazine and MyHorse.com has taken many approaches in delivering roping arena information to you, the reader. For this article about team roping arenas, we decided that you should hear from those who build the roping arenas themselves. First, Gary Neie, a custom barn and roping arena builder for many of the elite of the team roping industry, takes us through some of his client's barns and shows us how the details make all the difference. We also got tips from commercial roping arena manufacturers, Amos Arena Supply, Southwest Equine and Priefert. The folks at Safe-T-Lighting also pitched in to shed some light on a topic too often overlooked: correct arena lighting. These comments are intended to give you inspiration, ideas and a plan of attack when you build your arena.
Tips from Gary Neie Custom Welding
Gary Neie started his roping arena expertise working with the USTRC. For about three years in the early days of the organization, Neie traveled to ropings year-round as the foreman of the set-up crew and a general catch-all person for the facilities and set-up process. "I really got an understanding of what worked and what didn't work as far as arenas, cattle and roping in general from that experience," said Neie.
From the USTRC, Neie began building smaller horse barns and pipe fencing. His contacts in the team roping industry helped break him into the business. Over the years it evolved into bigger and better things, ultimately working for 18 months to develop Denny Gentry's new place. Through Gentry, Neie met many others in the roping
business and has begun barns and arenas for them.
"Every time that I build one, I keep all these little experiences in the back of my head," said Neie. "The ones that were no good I get rid of, but the ones that work I keep at the front and use them over and over again."
Neie is a stickler for quality and has developed the reputation of a worker who will tear things down if it's not just right.
"The thing that has kept me working for upper-end type people is the quality and the finish of the work. If it won't work for me it won't work for them."
Neie states that covering the boxes this way is very unique. People are beginning to use this feature not only for the shade, but to control the moisture in the boxes. In a moderate rain, the rest of the arena might be perfect for roping, but the moisture has puddled in the dug-out boxes. The covered boxes prevent that and give a horse and rider a nice place to sit and reflect between runs.
