Lunar Zodiac · The Moon's Cycle
Horse
“Fast, open hearted, and startles at the unexpected thing.”
Polarity: yang · Direction: south · Element: fire
The Horse is energy, independence and a need for open ground. It is sociable without being domesticated, warm with almost everyone, and constitutionally unable to sit inside an arrangement that has stopped moving. It works in bursts of real intensity and takes badly to being fenced, supervised or slowed down. Its moment in the race is the sign's whole character in one incident. The Horse swam strongly and was about to come ashore in sixth place when the Snake, which had spent the entire crossing coiled around its hoof, slid out in front of it. The Horse shied, lost its footing and its place, and finished seventh. Not outrun, not outlasted, and not beaten on any measure of strength or speed. Simply startled at the one moment where a steady nerve was worth more than a fast pace. Horse people are charming, generous and physically expressive, the ones who make a group feel alive and who are already planning the next trip. They are honest, quick to enthusiasm and quick to boredom. The cost is the flinch: a nervous system built for open country reacts to sudden pressure by bolting, so difficult conversations, tight commitments and anything that closes in around them can lose them at the exact point where staying still would have won it.
Years of the Horse
A Horse year opens at Chinese New Year, which falls between late January and the middle of February, so it does not line up with the calendar year. Anyone born in the weeks before it belongs to the animal before.
- 1918February 11, 1918 to January 31, 1919
- 1930January 30, 1930 to February 16, 1931
- 1942February 15, 1942 to February 4, 1943
- 1954February 4, 1954 to January 23, 1955
- 1966January 21, 1966 to February 8, 1967
- 1978February 7, 1978 to January 27, 1979
- 1990January 27, 1990 to February 14, 1991
- 2002February 12, 2002 to January 31, 2003
- 2014January 31, 2014 to February 18, 2015
- 2026February 17, 2026 to February 6, 2027
- 2038February 4, 2038 to January 23, 2039
Horse Ancient Zodiacs
Every sign someone born in the Year of the Horse can be, one for each Western sun sign.
- Moose: Aries Horse, “Enormous, unhurried, and absolutely not to be blocked.”
- Donkey: Taurus Horse, “Not stubborn. Thinking, and unwilling to be hurried about it.”
- Zebra: Gemini Horse, “Never been broken, and no two of them alike.”
- Camel: Cancer Horse, “Travels anywhere, and takes home along inside.”
- Satyr: Leo Horse, “Turns any evening into an occasion and never wants it to end.”
- Mantis: Virgo Horse, “Perfectly still, then faster than you can see.”
- Pegasus: Libra Horse, “Where it lands, other people start writing.”
- Unicorn: Scorpio Horse, “Untouchable by nearly everyone, and given entirely to one.”
- Albatross: Sagittarius Horse, “Born for distance, allergic to standing still.”
- Elk: Capricorn Horse, “Covers the distance, and can be heard doing it from miles off.”
- Roadrunner: Aquarius Horse, “Odd, fast, and never once where you expected.”
- Seahorse: Pisces Horse, “The slowest thing in the sea, and it does not care.”