Cowboy Magic
Show-ring detanglers, whitening shampoos and shine sprays made by their own maker
🇺🇸 American Manufacturing
Our assessment
Company details
Where Cowboy Magic products are made
Most equine grooming is private label: a brand writes a spec and a third party fills it, often overseas. Cowboy Magic’s own FAQ says the opposite is true here — “Cowboy Magic is manufactured by Straight Arrow Products, a family owned cosmetic manufacturing company. Straight Arrow Products famously manufacture Mane ’n Tail and Exhibitor’s Equine products alongside Cowboy Magic in their roster.” The company that owns the name also owns the kettles.
Straight Arrow’s mission statement is signed by its owner and president, Devon B. Katzev, and reads: “While we don’t manufacture on the family farm these days, we still take pride in the fact that we produce all of our products right here in the United States.” An attributable claim from a named executive is a materially better class of evidence than anonymous marketing copy.
Straight Arrow’s careers page advertises a “PRODUCTION ASSEMBLER” role to “join their growing team in Easton, PA,” and a shipping clerk “right here in the Lehigh Valley.” Published hiring for assembly and shipping in Pennsylvania corroborates domestic production independently of anything in the marketing.
American Manufacturing, not Made in USA. The company-level claim is strong, signed and unambiguous, and the maker is the brand owner rather than an anonymous packer — but no Cowboy Magic product page states an origin, and the only brand-site sentence reading “Made in the USA” sits in a 2019 sponsorship post rather than on a product or About page. The licensed merchandise collection — the plush horse and dog figures — carries no description and no origin claim, and goods of that kind are commonly imported, so it is excluded by name. Neither site names which specific plant fills Cowboy Magic, so this profile does not assert one.
The story
Cowboy Magic was not invented by the company that now makes it. It was built by Jim and Charlotte Cummings as an independent, family-owned equine grooming line, and Straight Arrow Products bought it — announcing that Cowboy Magic “is now part of the Straight Arrow Products, Inc. family,” and that the new owner “intends to keep their family tradition and core essence of the Cowboy Magic brand going strong.”
The buyer was itself a farm business. Straight Arrow began in 1970 when Philip and Bonnie Katzev started mixing horse shampoo in their own kitchen, and it grew, in the current owner’s words, “just by word of mouth … into an international personal care company.” Its mission page still refers to the days when it did “manufacture on the family farm.” Cowboy Magic now sits alongside Mane ’n Tail, Exhibitor’s and Straight Arrow Therapeutic.
The line is built for the show ring, and that shapes the chemistry. The company states that “all Cowboy Magic products are safe for equestrian competitive purposes and comply with Federal Equestrian International rules and regulations,” and its products are formulated for high shine “whether under sun or show lights.” Two-time US Olympic eventing team member Boyd Martin is a brand partner, and the products travel with him to international competition.
Why they matter
Competition compliance is a manufacturing argument, not a marketing one. Products that have to satisfy international equestrian rules need tight formulation control and traceable batches — which is a practical reason to keep production in-house and domestic rather than chase the cheapest filler. Cowboy Magic’s American manufacturing is a consequence of what the product has to do.
Heavy, water-based liquids are the first thing a category offshores. Detanglers, shampoos and shine sprays are low-margin and expensive to ship, which is exactly why so much of this aisle is imported. A Pennsylvania company still filling its own bottles, and still advertising for assemblers and shipping clerks in the Lehigh Valley, represents retained American manufacturing jobs in a product class that largely left.
It is also a case of an American family business rescuing another one. Cowboy Magic could have been bought by a multinational and moved. Instead one family-owned equine manufacturer bought it from another and kept making it here — the quieter, more durable version of the Buy American story.
Shop Cowboy Magic products
Detanglers, rosewater shampoos and conditioners, whitening shampoo, waterless spot remover and shine sprays.
Shop all Cowboy Magic products →Visit Cowboy Magic website →
Cowboy Magic questions
Is Cowboy Magic made in the USA?
The company that makes it says so. Cowboy Magic’s own FAQ confirms the brand is made in-house — “Cowboy Magic is manufactured by Straight Arrow Products, a family owned cosmetic manufacturing company” — and Straight Arrow’s owner and president states in a signed mission statement that “we produce all of our products right here in the United States.” The claim is made at company level, though: no individual Cowboy Magic product page carries an origin line, and the licensed merchandise items carry no origin information at all. Read the US-made claim as covering the grooming formulations.
Where is Cowboy Magic based?
Easton, Pennsylvania. The company states that “Cowboy Magic and parent company Straight Arrow Products, Inc. are located in Easton, Pennsylvania in the United States,” and describes itself as operating “right here in the Lehigh Valley.” Neither site publishes a street address; contact is by form or toll-free phone.
When was Cowboy Magic founded?
Cowboy Magic does not publish a founding year for the brand, and we will not guess one. It says only that it “has been a trusted name in grooming and finishing solutions for over 30 years.” It began as an independent family-owned line run by Jim and Charlotte Cummings, and had been acquired by Straight Arrow Products — itself “family operated and owned since its inception in 1970” — by August 2015.
Can Cowboy Magic be used on dogs, cats and people, and is it legal for competition?
Yes to all of it. The company states that “Cowboy Magic can safely be used on horses, dogs, cats, livestock and more” and that its products “can be used on human hair,” with formulas held at a pH of 6 to 6.5. On competition: “Yes, all Cowboy Magic products are safe for equestrian competitive purposes and comply with Federal Equestrian International rules and regulations.” The company also confirms that none of its products are tested on animals.