We at Cacties are proud to announce a partnership with the Arabian Horse Association! Cacties is now the official apparel line of the Arabian Horse Association, and AHA members can get western clothing with the association’s logo. Cacties clothing will now be available at all AHA events and shows.

“We are very pleased to add Cacties as a corporate partner. The quality of Cacties’ product is second to none, from the neckwear to the classic western shirts. We are very excited to offer such stellar apparel to our membership,” says Jim Gordon, Director of Publications and Corporate Alliances.

Next time you are at an Arabian Horse Association event, be on the lookout for Cacties western clothing!

As we continue to design new ties, western shirts, and apparel, clothing items will be moved to our clearance section.

The Clearance Section currently has some of our best necktie designs on sale. My personal favorite is the Jackrabbit Necktie. When was the last time you saw someone wearing a jackrabbit pattern on their clothing? Probably never. Our patterns are unique and folks that want to wear unique clothing that expresses their individuality wear Cacties.

The weather is warm and the week is almost over. One of the only things I can think about right now is sitting on a patio drinking a Margarita with some friends. The Margarita Glasses Necktie is perfect to wear to work on a Friday. What better way to tell your co-workers and employers “Screw this week. I’ve already checked out”.

What are you waiting for. Head on over to our clearance section. You might find something for yourself or a gift for a friend or loved one.

If there is one state in the union that deserves a necktie it’s Texas. Sorry Rhode Island. We all know that you were the first to declare independence from the British Crown, but you don’t have much going these days.

Texas, on the other hand, is one big bad state. In fact, it’s the second largest state in the U.S. after Alaska. They say “Everything is bigger in Texas” and bigger usually means better, especially when burritos and beer are the subject at hand. There’s also a simple reason why folks say “Don’t mess with Texas”. Because you shouldn’t if you know what’s best.

We salute you Texas. We even created the Texas State Necktie in your honor.

If you feel the need to express your inner Texan rebel then the Alamo and Texas Flag Necktie might be a good fit.

Our Texas Ties are perfect for all occasions a Texan might encounter.

• A hot date with an American Cowgirl Chick
• The next official Dress Western Day
• The proud Texas Independence/Flag Day
• Or a visit to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Excuse me while I put my art reviewer hat on…There, it’s on now. Also, please excuse the fancy speak you’re about to hear.

I have a background in art and photography. Some of my formative years were spent working for galleries specializing in western art. Let’s just say there’s a soft spot in my gut for the genre. I wouldn’t consider myself an art critic but more of an art appreciator. However, I have a good eye for what’s good and bad and the level of talent and dedication necessary to make a true artist.

While searching the internet for western art the other day my browser uncovered the work of a true craftsmen, or craftswoman in the case of photographer Bev Pettit. She has the biography of an accomplished photographer and a portfolio to match. Her portfolio has several bodies of work including: Wild Horses, Equine, Rodeo, Portraits, Flora, and Asia.

In the “Wild Horses at Return to Freedom” series Bev uses excellent panning technique to capture the wild horses running wild while the landscape remains blurred. She is no slouch in the post processing department either. While remaining in color the wild horse images have been processed with an overall warm tone that enhances the relationship of horse to landscape. The final result is dynamic, powerful, and cinematic.

I really enjoy her “Rodeo” series as well. The choice to slightly weather and tone the monochrome images helps freeze in time decisive moments between man, animal, and earth. Mud flies and danger feels imminent.

Much of her work is for sale in the form of unframed museum quality prints and gallery wrapped canvas prints. The prints are ridiculously affordable, so if you are looking to fill some empty wall space visit her website and buy a print or two.

The man responsible for putting solar panels on the White House, known as The Green Cowboy, has just been named the Deputy Mayor in charge of environmental issues for the city of Los Angeles. S. David Freeman, who was on the forefront of alternative energy in the 1970’s, is a best selling author and will be replacing Nancy Sutley in the position after her appointment in the Obama administration.

Though 83 years old, Freeman is often referred to as "the smartest man in the room" and was the current head of the Port of Los Angeles after serving on the boards of major utility companies in New York and California, including the LA Dept. of Water & Power.

His bestseller Winning our Energy Independence: an Energy Insider Shows How describes in detail the urgent need of weaning the U.S from what he calls the "three poisons" — coal, oil, nuclear.

One place you’d never think of a cowboy taking care of business is in Los Angeles politics, but The Green Cowboy is there to do just that.

We all know that behind a great cowboy is an even better cowgirl, and for all of the ladies out there, you might want to check out the awesome Pioneer Woman website. It has a ton of fantastic information including recipes (even some for “cowboy food”!), amazing photography, home and garden tips, plus a fun blog. The woman behind it all is Ree Drummond, and here’s a self description of her site:

Here, I write about my decade-long transition from spoiled city girl to domestic country wife. I post photos of cows, horses, and my four weird children, and frequently include shots of cowboys wearing chaps. In my Photography section, I include Photography and Photoshop tutorials. In my Cooking section, I post step-by-step photos of all the cowboy-friendly dishes I’ve taught myself to cook through the years, and in Home & Garden, I chronicle the start-to-finish remodeling project of an old guest house on our ranch.

If you love the cowboy lifestyle, the Pioneer Woman may be a great place for you to keep up with all things out on the ranch.

This fun "post it" comes from our friend, author Craig Johnson, and his discovery of our woven range jacket.

There are certain things we search our entire lives for–love, knowledge, respect, and power—but I have covered the globe in search of only one thing.

I was in Denver at the Merchandise Mart for the big WESA show with my wife when we turned a corner, and I spied what was for me, the holy grail of jackets. There it was, hanging on a rack, a perfect tan canvas almost like a gabardine. It had snap-buttons and hand-warmer pockets at the sides. The style was perfect; modern, but with a few vintage touches like the expansion panels alongside the snaps. It looked like it had ridden in to town tied to the back of Jimmy Stewart’s saddle in one of those Anthony Mann westerns.
           
The Cacties’ Woven Range Jacket has a leather collar and side-snaps at the hip; just enough to tell of its western breeding, but not so much that it had to apologize for it.
Jimmy Griscom, the tall southerner in charge, smiled as I studied it. “Pick it up.” I did, and it was feather light. I asked him how much it was, and he told me. “You’re kidding.” He continued to smile. “Nope.”
           
We talked for a while, and I admitted I was an author and had been looking for the perfect coat for book tours. I’d made up my mind to buy the item at the earliest when he threw it to me. “Take it.” I looked at the jacket in my hands. “Wear it on your book tour, its better publicity than I can buy.”
           
This year’s tour begins in Paris and Saint-Malo, France and ends at the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles, USA, and believe you me, I’ll be wearing the Cacties’ Woven Range Jacket the whole time.

Many thanks to Craig for sharing his story! Craig Johnson is the author of Viking/Penguin’s Walt Longmire series and you can reach him at www.craigallenjohnson.com.

One of the best kept secrets in cowboy culture these days, or maybe not so much a secret anymore, is Vicente Fernandez. Cowboys and Indians magazine profiled Mr. Fernandez for their April issue and called him the “king of the Mexican signing cowboys”. Also known as “the world’s greatest ranchera singer”, Fernandez practices what he preaches, owning a horse ranch in Guadalajara, Mexico of over 400 horses.

With more than 20 feature films and nearly 80 albums to his credit, and 50 million CDs sold, El Rey, as he’s called, proved he de-serves the title when his 2007 release, Para Siempre [For Always], became the best-selling Latin record in the U.S. market in its first six months on the charts. On it, the rags-to-riches Fernández performs signature songs of longing and hard luck, love and jealousy, and the lure of the open road.

His album covers portray a six-gun-toting Mexican cowboy of the Old West merged with a Latin pop star of the 21st century, but Fernández is more than just a colorful stage presence. Comparisons to Elvis and Sinatra are inevitable both for the mania and devotion of Fernández fans and for the energy and sincerity of emotion that power his live performances and recordings. Regularly playing to packed crowds, he can sell out weeklong engagements in Los Angeles in a heartbeat. Make it to any of those U.S. concerts and you’ll see cowboys tossing hats (and cowgirls throwing unmentionables onstage), clamoring for one more song.

While the press might call Mr. Fernandez “the Sinatra of Mexico”, he’s just doing what he loves best: passing on the love of cowboy culture.

This month we will be giving away the Jackrabbits Necktie in our Twitter contest.

» Learn how to win this prize using Twitter

Like many out there, we’ve fallen in love with Twitter. It’s a great way to interact with our audience, find people doing interesting things, and introduce folks to our clothing and apparel.

We have decided that Twitter is a great way get our audience involved in a contest to win free Cacties stuff. So here is our current contest:

1. Sign up for Twitter if you don’t have an account already.
2. Follow mycacties on Twitter.
3. Take the quiz: Are You a Real Man or a Total Wussie?
4. When your results are displayed just click the Tweet Your Results button and your results will be automatically inserted into the what are you doing window.
5. Click the update button to post your message.

We monitor all tweeted results. At the end of the month all tweeted results will be placed into a magic randomizer and one person will be chosen as the winner. The winner will then be notified by direct message.

To see the monthly prizes and winners visit our contest page.