Henry Chen, born in 1990, the Year of the Horse, never took Chinese horoscopes too seriously. But people around him always have.
When Chen’s father was a kid in the countryside of Gansu, China, he was involved in an accident where he was almost trampled by a horse-drawn cart. He could have easily been killed but, according to family lore, the horses spared his life. It was as if they instinctively side-stepped his body to keep him safe.
Since then, Chen’s father has always felt a spiritual connection to horses, which only intensified when Henry, his oldest son, was born in the Year of the Horse.
Later as a young adult, Chen worked as an assistant to an award-winning Hollywood director who not only loved horses but was an avid believer of the Chinese zodiac. Being a Horse endeared him to her, he believes, and as an added benefit, his grandmother (also a Horse) started giving her a personalized zodiac reading every new year. The director felt that she could trust Chen’s work ethic, as Horses are known for being tireless and driven.
Now Chen admits that he does identify with many of the Horse traits. “I think Horses tend to act first and charge forward,” he says, “and deal with the consequences afterwards.”
Feb. 17 brings the Year of the Horse, seventh in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac cycle. Horses were born in 2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954 and so on.
According to superstition, a person born in a particular year takes on the traits of that year’s animal. The year itself also takes on the spirit of the animal. Each year is also assigned one of five elements — metal, water, wood, fire and earth — that rotate alongside the animal sign. Fire, which is this year’s element, tends to magnify the animal’s personality.
What traits do Horses have?
According to astrologer Laura Lau, co-author of “The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes,” the Horse personality is strong, confident and charismatic. Horses crave freedom and independence. They’re hard-working, action-oriented and instinctual, and they tend to learn by doing. But if they go down a path that isn’t working, they’re quick to pivot. This makes them flexible, adaptable and forgiving. But they can also be challenging for people — especially authority figures — who are trying to pin them down.
Michelle Yu, an on-air simulcast host at the Santa Anita Park race track, confirms that many of the Zodiac Horse characteristics are akin to qualities of real horses.
“They’re beguiling, social and bold,” she says of the animals. And they’re intuitive. For example, horses that are hard for adults to handle will often exude extra kindness and attention when around children, she says.
They’re also impulsive. “Anyone who’s worked with horses knows that one minute, a horse could be happy, and the next minute, they could snap and start breathing fire,” Yu says.
She explains that the only horse trait that might diverge from the Zodiac is the need for independence. Horses are herd animals, and they like being around each other.
But they do have minds of their own, she says. And they’re competitive, especially when racing. “You can see the horses look the other horses in the eye” at the starting line, she said, “and they have the will to win.”
Crystal Castagnaro, also a Horse, is the director of enrichment at Lunch Brunch, a culinary education program for K-12 students in Southern California. Born and raised in New York, she describes her Sicilian family as very superstitious.
Castagnaro says she’s always had an independent spirit and remembers being confident moving across the country to live in Los Angeles in her mid-20s. She feels stifled when she can’t be trusted to do things on her own.
“I’m always like, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’” she says. “I’m not going to ask. I don’t want people to get in the way of my plans.”
What can you expect in a Fire Horse year?
With the element of fire as an intensifier, the Fire Horse is the daredevil and thrill-seeker of the lunar cycle. “It’s a time for big change and big emotions,” Lau says.
“The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes” was first written in 1979 by Lau’s late mother, Theodora Lau, a noted astrologist. Laura Lau has updated the guide, but she still reads her mother’s old notes. “My mother loved dissecting politics through Chinese astrology,” she says.
The last Year of the Fire Horse year was 1966. The Vietnam War was escalating. The civil rights movement was at a crossroads. The Black Panther Party was founded. And the year marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China.
If 1966 is any blueprint, we can expect a breakdown of long-accepted hierarchies and systems of authority.
Jing Gao, creator of the popular Chinese chili sauce Fly By Jing, has garnered millions of views on TikTok with her Year of the Horse explainers, where she discusses Lunar New Year feng shui and how each animal will be affected by the year of the Fire Horse.
In one of her videos, she points out that this year’s Lunar New Year also falls on a solar eclipse day, with Saturn and Neptune conjunct in Aries a few days later. “This is super intense energy,” she says, “and it’s going to mark an important moment in human history.”
Having a baby girl in the Year of the Horse has been historically feared. Lau notes that in her mother’s writings back in the 1960s — when East Asian societies were more conservative — she had warned against having a girl during the Year of the Horse because she would be hard to control.
But over time as social norms changed, so did attitudes toward assertive female Horses. If a child needs to make their own mistakes in order to learn from them, it can be difficult for a parent to watch, Lau said. But these qualities — strong, decisive, hard-working and intuitive — are all positive.
“Once a Horse learns how to focus, they can be incredible leaders,” says Lau. “Those who have seen and experienced the extremes can be more persuasive.”
Ava Lee, a content creator behind the Eastern-medicine wellness and beauty brand ByAva, recently learned she is expecting her first child in 2026. She didn’t plan on having a Fire Horse, but now that she’s pregnant, people are telling her to be prepared for an extremely active baby. “I think I’m in trouble,” she jokes.
But Lee was also heartened to learn from her acupuncturist that she, as a Sheep, is one of the best animals to parent a Horse baby. A Sheep is nurturing, sensitive and empathetic, and the Horse baby brings energy and momentum into the Sheep parent’s world.
How will the Year of the Horse affect your relationships in 2026?
According to superstition, each animal has its animal friends and its animal enemies. The animal friends will have a lucky and productive year, while the animal enemies might want to take caution.
This year’s Horse friends, who make up a Triangle of Affinity on the Zodiac circle, are the Tiger and Dog. These are high-spirited, action-oriented animals that also embrace new experiences, explains Lau.
The Horse enemies are the Rat and the Ox. These animals are big planners, she explains. “They’re more rigid and detail-oriented,” she says. “The Horse is like, ‘Let’s play it by ear,’ and that drives these other personalities crazy.”
Also, according to superstition, a person’s own animal year is thought to be a time for guardedness. Believers will often take precautions, including wearing a red-string bracelet or red underwear throughout the year for protection.
But Lau wonders whether Horses will be able to avoid conflict, due to their inherent independent natures. “Horses tend to get along with each other,” she said. “They all go in their own directions.”
However, the Horse year is a notoriously challenging one for romance, says Lau. The charismatic and passionate Horse is the Casanova of the cycle, falling in and out of love quickly. “Some will find that thrilling,” Lau says. “Others, will be like, ‘No, thank you.’”
The Horse has a lot of youthful energy. They’re not afraid to rebuild. “Horses flare up and die down, flare up and die down,” said Lau. “It’s like being around two people who need to fight. Sometimes the foreboding quiet is exhausting, and you’d rather them just yell at each other.”
Should you try to tame a hot-blooded Horse?
Historically, taming a horse meant “breaking it,” explains Junko Goda, a horseback archer who was Bae Doona’s stunt riding double in Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon.” The horse’s hot-bloodedness was something to overpower. But in recent years, horse training has been reframed around horse psychology, with emphasis on observing and guiding the horse, as opposed to dominating it.
“What makes a horse act up? Fear, mostly,” said Hollywood horse stunt coordinator Ryan Sturz. “The fear can come from something that’s happening in the moment, which means they’re not ready for that moment. Training and exposure can fix that.
“Fear can also come from poor training or a bad prior experience, and that sometimes can’t be trained away,” he adds. “Sometimes the trauma is just too big.”
The Fire Horse comes with a lot of momentum, which can propel stagnated dreams into action. Both Lau and Gao, while bracing for a tumultuous year, remind us that 1966 was also a breakthrough year for music and creativity.
But the main challenge of the Fire Horse year is burnout. Gao refers to Daoist teachings that suggest that fire is not overcome by greater fire. “What burns hottest consumes itself first,” she explains. “Water prevails not by force, but by cooling, surrounding and redirecting.”
Over the years, Chen, now a creative producer for Mr. Beast Games, has learned a lot about Horse characteristics, including the more challenging ones. “We never stop moving and can prioritize thinking about work over other areas in life,” he says.
After getting a Zodiac reading from his mother for the upcoming year, he says he is focusing on approaching career decisions with a calm head. He’s working on honest communication with his wife to avoid misunderstandings. He’s been advised to avoid unnecessary risk. And when his family tells him to wear a red-string bracelet for the entirety of the Horse year, he’ll wear it.
Even though Chen still doesn’t actively believe in the Zodiac, he respects it.
“Because if I don’t, and something happens, I’ll be like, ‘Why didn’t I just listen?’” he says.
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