Two prominent surnames from the sport of cutting have received recent attention in the news.

The Wall Street Journal reported on May 6 that a record $800 million gift was given to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art being built by Alice Walton in Bentonville, Ark. The gift is the largest cash donation ever made to an art museum in the U.S.

Walton, 61, daughter of the late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, is an accomplished rider and breeder of note in the cutting horse world. Her stallion Rockin W, named for Walton’s ranch in Parker County, Texas, won the coveted NCHA Futurity championship in 2009, and is fourth generation Walton breeding.

Boon San Kitty, the dam of Rockin W, was 2004 NCHA Horse of the Year. With lifetime earnings of $566,016, Boon San Kitty ranks among cutting’s all-time leading money earners.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is scheduled to open in November 2011.

The May 9 issue of The New Yorker featured an article, “O Pioneer Woman!,” about Ree Drummond of Waurika, Okla, whose blog, The Pioneer Woman, receives 23.3 million page views per month and 4.4 unique visitors.

Ree chronicles daily life on an Oklahoma ranch run by her husband, Lad, whose father, Chuck Drummond, is a prominent Quarter Horse breeder, who at one time owned the prominent cutting sire Docs Stylish Oak, as well as the broodmare Playboys Mom, whose nine perfomers have earnered an average of nearly $75,000 each.

Chuck Drummond, as well as Lad’s brother, Tim, and his wife, Missy, are all successful amateur and non-pro cutting competitors. Chuck came back to the sport, after a 13-year hiatus, to claim the 2008 NCHA Super Stakes Amateur Classic reserve championship, as well as the Senior division championship.

“It’s really exciting to do well on a horse you’ve raised,” said Drummond, who was riding Most Stylish Mom, by Docs Stylish Oak out of Playboys Mom.

Drummond Land and Cattle Compnay currently stands the stallion Lizzys Gotta Player at EE Ranches Stallion Station, Whitesboro, Tex.