Sure, the idea of being a cowboy is romantic. However, a cowboy’s idea of recreation can be down right painful and sometimes dangerous. No guts, no glory, no fun. Go big or go home.

Are western neckties back in? According to William C Reynolds, editor of Living Cowboy Ethics magazine published by the Paragon Foundation, they certainly are. Mr. Reynolds writes in the latest edition of Cowboys and Indians about how the western tie is back in grand style. According to the article, entitled “Ride and Tie”, the popular thought that cowboys at the turn of the century did not care about their appearance is just a myth.

Pride in one’s appearance and one’s work was not alien to the working cowboy - then or now. For the serious, it has always been prideful work. And as the 20th century wore on, along with the evolution of the necktie and its design came the advent of  unique accoutrements and accessories to help hold the tie down and keep it from flapping - an advantage for those working horseback and throwing loops.

These days, the western necktie is seeing quite the resurgence after being lost from popular culture sometime in the 1960’s. Once the popularity of the western television shows died out, so did a lot of cowboy culture. And now?

Today, there is a renaissance of sorts occurring in may aspects of the Western horsemanship world - a return of respect, if you will, for some of the old ways in working and training fine bridle and using horses. Along with that has come an increased interest in ranch ropings and classic vaquero-style roping techniques. It is only natural, then, that an interest in certain aspects of classic Western dress would follow. Re-enter the necktie. Today, at may ranch ropings and competitions - from the Californios Ranch Roping and Stock Horse Contest held every April in Bed Bluff, California, to the Jordon Valley Big Loop Rodeo each spring in Jordon Valley, Oregon, among many others - “Western gentlemen” can be seen roping in neckties. Is it a fashion trend that will catch on, or will it remain a style for only the purist? Time will tell. One thing’s for sure, it’s a style that is “tied” to the West.

If western ties are your thing, be sure and check out our vast collection of ties. With 21 different styles, you are sure to find one that suits you perfectly.

Mark Mordue sheds light on the return of the cowboy into mainstream culture. He suggests its being promoted through new culturally influencing mediums, like movies. He uses recent movies, like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 3:10 to Yuma and No Country for Old Men as examples.

Three films now do not constitute a movement. Reviving a seemingly dead genre takes a lot more heat than that. But it’s possible to see renewed vigor behind the Western when you also take into account the critically lauded HBO television series, Deadwood (2004-06) - a prosaically brutal take on how the chaos of a gold mining town is civilized — and Brokeback Mountain (2005), author E. Annie Proulx and director Ang Lee’s gay re-visioning of a cowboy romance up in them ‘thar’ hills.

More interestingly is the stereotype that goes with being a cowboy. For example, there’s an element of danger and ruggedness that many people think of when they envision a cowboy. With what Mordue calls a “movement,” it’s no wonder why men’s Western wear is coming back into fashion. Although it’s difficult to for urbanites to live a true cowboy lifestyle, many men are able to express their inward cowboy by wearing high end Western wear, like the clothes Cacties makes. John Murfee of Avondale Partners is an excellent example — he sports one of Cacties’ wide assortment of Western neckwear.

Here are “the Best of the Best of the Western movie” genre. Renowned movie director Sergio Leone comes in with an impressive four movies in this top 10 movies list created by Listverse:

Top Ten Western Movies

1. The Searchers 1956, John Ford
2. Rio Bravo 1959, Howard Hawks
3. A Fistful of Dollars 1964, Sergio Leone
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969, George Roy Hill
5. For a Few Dollars More 1965, Sergio Leone
6. High Noon 1952, Fred Zinnemann
7. Unforgiven 1992, Clint Eastwood
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948, John Huston
9. Once Upon a Time in the West 1968, Sergio Leone
10. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly 1966, Sergio Leone

What do you think of the titles included in this top ten list? What movies were overlooked and should be included? Which westerns would make your top 10 movies of all time? Let us know by emailing us at mycacties@gmail.com.

Democratic and Republican presidents alike have drawn on our collective cowboy legacy (imaginary?/culture?) as they lead the free world from our Nation’s capital in Washington DC. The Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles is currently hosting a fascinating exhibit on the personal and political use of the cowboy mythology from our nation’s highest political office.The LA Times illuminates:

Highlights include the iconic, such as LBJ’s much-photographed Stetson hat; the sentimental — drawings inspired by the film “High Noon,” which Bill Clinton made as a child; the metaphorical — the intricately carved Saddle of Independence dedicated to 9/11, which was a gift from the Black Hills Stock Show Foundation to George W. Bush; and the curious — Calvin Coolidge’s electric exercise horse (which resembled a mechanical bull). “The rumor is he rode it in the White House in his underwear and a cowboy hat,” says Garron Maloney, the assistant curator for Ranch Life and the New West who organized the show with lead curator B. Byron Price, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, and Jeffrey Richardson, the current Autry-University of Nevada Las Vegas fellow. Maloney says the exhibition, five years in the making, and upcoming book by Price constitute the first scholarly work on the subject.

Photos from the exhibit are available at the Los Angeles Times

Check out the online version of the Cowboys and Presidents exhibit at the Gene Autry Museum.

America’s West is one of the most comprehensive online presentations of Western history and development. Its main contents include:

• Archaeology
• Cowboys
• Critters
• Emigration
• Events
• Expansion
• Films
• “Indians”
• Mining
• Outlaws
• Pioneers
• Places
• Research
• Trading Post
• Transportation

Their Cowboys page includes a plethora of online resources, including information on upcoming rodeos, a calendar of cowboy festivals and cowboy poetry! America’s West is frequently updated and is an amazing resource for those interested in the development and history of the West.

Cacties is proud to make America’s West the first Cowboy Friendly site!