The Year of The Horse
When I learned this is the year of the horse in the Chinese zodiac, I laughed. As far as I’m concerned, with a daughter who has loved horses since she was 5, every year is a year of a horse. I am not one to ‘follow’ the zodiac, but I do enjoy the ‘not actually serious, but often spot on’ nature of the varying zodiac calendars. Being an Aries, I seem to be: courageous, confident, determined, enthusiastic, honest, passionate, creative. But also: impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive. Yup. So what does the Chinese year of the ‘fire horse’ mean?
Each Chinese Zodiac year has a corresponding element (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) within the 12 year cycle. The five elements are set in a specific order, as one creates or controls the next. For example; wood makes fire burn, fire creates earth, earth bears metal, metal runs water and water makes wood grow. To learn more about your specific birth year, here is a great website: https://www.bendigojosshouse.com/zodiac-calendar/. It seems I am a Water Rabbit: Trustworthy, empathic, modest, diplomatic, sincere, sociable, caretaker, sensitive. The ‘water’ adds: Sympathetic, perfectionist, coordinator. I am unclear as yet whether I like being a ram or a rabbit, and if someone had asked, I don’t think I would have picked ‘water’ out of a lineup of possible elements for me. And I suspect there are those of you who might debate that ‘diplomatic’ moniker. But anyway, back to horses…
February 17, 2026 begins the Year of the Fire Horse —‘fire’ being the element, and ‘horse’ the Zodiac sign. The last fire horse year was 60 years ago. Per the sign, this year we will experience rapid change, fresh opportunities, personal growth, and a faster pace of life. I for one could do without the faster pace of life, but personal growth is always a good idea. The wood snake year (ending 2/16/2026) provided a time of reflection, shedding old stories and habits and honoring your intelligence. Now, with the Fire Horse, that clarity needs decisive action. “Horse energy promotes movement, circulation, motivation and mental clarity, all of which benefit overall health…That said, this constant movement is about consistency—not flat-out speed that then requires long periods of recovery. A Horse year is not about running the fastest but running the longest. The Horse is not afraid of slowness, it’s afraid of stillness” (https://www.vogue.com/article/year-of-the-fire-horse-2026). I cannot help but think of my daughter, and her competitive years riding horses.
I took this photograph of a horse named Cezar with a traditional 35mm camera, back in 2017. My daughter leased Cezar for a year of riding competitions (translation: her parents paid for the leasing, boarding, training, show fees, and travel). Cezar was a retired race horse, retrained for show jumping competitions. He was in his late teens when my daughter leased him, and had numerous issues, including a lack of teeth and bad knees. But he was a goofy animal with a big heart and my daughter loved him. While the process was not inexpensive, the joy this animal brought her made it worthwhile. And who cannot love a horse who’s favorite snack is Fruit Loops cereal? This photo was taken while she was competing at a Hunter/Jumper show at Ledges in Roscoe, Illinois. While I attended most of her competitions, I confess I did so with significant anxiety each time she entered the ring.
Her love of speed, daring competitive nature, and joy of the horse meant I often had to close my eyes as she zipped around a ring. Half the time I was amazed she kept track of the route to race through – pivoting this way and that, jumping certain “standards” in specific orders and doing so going as fast as possible on an animal weighing roughly 1200 pounds. And, after winning overall for her class that year in Illinois, she started at college and Cezar returned to his owner. But her love of horses has remained steadfast, finding barns to do casual riding, befriending wonderful young women with similar caring natures, and trying to help horses needing rescuing. It is a challenging industry, often filled with folks trying to use the horses they own to make a living, instead of caring for the horses they way those animals may need. But I suspect every year will be a year of a horse for her, and thus for me.