LAME DEER, Wyo. – Kyla Two Bulls loves horses, pow wow dancing, and entering science project competitions and barrel racing. She’s just become a national science project award winner and a statewide name in science.

Fourteen-year-old Two Bulls, Oglala, is an eighth-grader at small, rural St. Labre Indian School on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. She earned national recognition with her first place award in the 2006 National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, N.M. Her project combined traditional and Western medicine.

Kyla received first place in the state project in animal and science for eighth-graders. She received third place at the Billings Science Fair and was given a special award for her scientific method.

The topic of her national victory was the blood sugar chemistry of horses; or, to quote the title of her project: “Blood sugar chemistry: Determining the enzyme conversion rate of complex carbohydrates into blood sugar for a comprehensive understanding of the effect of food and exercise on the blood sugar levels of horses.”

Horses, like humans, acquire type 2 diabetes from lack of exercise and improper diet, she stated in her paper.

In her written documentation, she posed the question to determine what factors affected starch digestion, then set down the hypothesis and laid out in detail the procedure for determining her theories.

Kyla compared the blood sugar levels of work horses located on an Amish colony near the reservation with those of horses used for pleasure at the St. Labre ranch.

Her paper explained the effects of different types of enzymes in the digestive system, how different these enzymes are from other proteins and how they behave chemically in the body.

“Cheyenne believe that horses are a mirror of their owner. Our lifestyles change with our horses,” she wrote.

All of her projects, which started when she was in the fifth grade, involve animals. Her first project involved a hamster. In the sixth grade she progressed to begin the journey to her current level with horses and blood sugar, and in the seventh grade she completed a project on how pigs are bred in this country as compared with methods used in China.

Kyla’s laboratory is outside with her animals because her school is limited in its laboratory capabilities, she said.

To maintain a balance in life, people need healthy outlets. With her mind so clearly focused on the future and on her special projects, Kyla’s outlets to be all related to her purpose.

“Riding horses, going to rodeo, pow wow dancing and basketball are important,” she said.

She will be kept very busy this year; the rodeo and pow wow seasons are under way. Also, she was just selected as the pow wow queen for St. Labre High School, which she will attend next year.

When not conducting experiments, Kyla trains horses on the ground and in the saddle. She has been around horses most all her life. She lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation until age 7, when she moved with her mother, Lynnette Two Bulls, to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

Her stepfather, Philip Whiteman Jr., is a horse trainer. Kyla said since she moved to Lame Deer she has ridden a lot and used Whiteman’s theory of the “Medicine Wheel Model to Natural Horsemanship” as a method of training her horses.

Kyla trains horses and rides every day.

“The horses show me how to deal with myself,” she said. “It’s like having a mirror. If you are calm or mad the horse will react the same way you do. That taught me to check my emotions. It taught me responsibility.”

Whiteman said the medicine wheel model is designed to simplify the holistic approach to life, and “Kyla has learned it well. I am really proud of Kyla,” he said.

Lynnette Two Bulls said St. Labre has a strong science program and there are other people in the sciences who do well. But Kyla has been the only student to place first in a state competition.

Jesse Andres, Kyla’s teacher, said that what she has accomplished can’t be taught or coached. Her understanding of the project is what brought her success.

“Learning the proper ways of Cheyenne horsemanship is a major focus in my life,” Kyla said. “Every day, I ride and care for my horses and I feel connected to my horses.”

Lynnette said the family was proud of Kyla for all her work and keeping the values that taught her siblings. Kyla’s older sister, Crystal, attends the University of Montana to study journalism. She also has two younger sisters: Florence, 5, and Nellie, 3.

“Kyla is very goal-oriented and motivated,” Lynnette Two Bulls said. “If we challenge her a little bit it comes out in her. She has a lot of goals in front of her and I feel she will reach what she sets in front of her.”

What advice might Kyla have for others her age?

“If other kids have dreams, follow the goals and work at them and learn,” she said.