How I’m embracing the year of the fire horse as the year of the feral and faithful.
I’m starting this off with two of my formative stories surrounding The Chinese Zodiac. The first one takes place in my first grade classroom. The boy I had a crush on and one of my friends were both snakes, and I, a horse. I didn’t think anything of it until they laughed at me about it and said snakes were way cooler. I told them I’d be able to trample on them because of my strength and prowess, but they said they would just bite my heel and poison me.
The next story takes place about 3 years ago. At the time I was working for an acupuncture college. My boss (we’ll call her Aya) had worked there for several years and had grown close to many of the students. As I familiarized myself with everyone, I was eventually invited to a weekend farmers market meet-up. We sat in a circle on the park lawn with our various half-eaten snacks. The conversation was slow and awkward and as the newest person in the group I was looking for any and every window into the conversations. Somebody brings up the Chinese zodiac and everyone in the circle starts talking about their signs. Aya had asked me what my sign was, and I excitedly replied to the entire group, for everyone to hear, “I’M A HORSE!”. One of the girls shot a look at me and laughed in my face, “Who asked you?” She laughed again and someone else chimed in, “That was very horse of you.”
Beyond these distasteful experiences, I didn’t really think much about “being a horse.” But looking back on these memories, I do sense karmic horse energy. My experiences with the snakes and the rats were accurate representations of the way people would tend to hurt me, and the way I would tend to hurt people. My injuries are always the subtle ones, the poisons and the ankle bites; people that act like snakes and rats. The injuries I dish out are definitely horselike and well described as trampling in nature.
In Chinese tradition there is a term “Ben Ming Nian” (本命年in Chinese) for when the lunar year matches your zodiac. As I move into 2026, my Ben Ming Nian, I look to the horse for any whispers of truth or understanding.
And that’s where the barrel racing comes in…
Feral Grace at the Barrel Race
“One day you will come across a horse that seems too much for your kid, it’s important you buy that horse.”
This is the caption I read on a mother’s recent TikTok. When I saw this video, I knew I had to expand on the emotions it stirred in me.
In the first clip, we watch as her daughter struggles for control of the wild beast. Her tiny body hardly holds on as the horse kicks its front legs in the air and trots around. In the second clip, we see the same little girl and horse in perfect symphony tearing full speed through a barrel race. Behind the camera, we hear Mom cheering at the top of her lungs in support.
There was something profound about this video that reached far beyond every other iteration of the “One day…it’s important that you…” trend. I felt that the horse was a perfect metaphor of a healthy challenge; of a task just a ~little~ too tough, a task that takes true trust and faith.
The spirit of a horse is wild and free, yet they carry a complexity and willingness to enter working relationships with their owner/rider. A horse is not a creature that easily submits to dominance; you must earn their trust and respect through consistency, presence, and calmness. Once that relationship is earned and trust is secured, boundaries between the woman and her horse can be explored. The woman and her horse decide, “I can exist in the wild and not be consumed by it”. This is where the extremity of barrel racing makes me emotional.
If you’ve never seen barrel racing, imagine a large dirt arena with 3 trash-can-sized barrels arranged in a triangle. As a rider bursts full speed from behind a cage into the arena, these barrels become obstacles for the horse. Running at full speed, dirt behind them, the rider and the horse cut around the first barrel in a whip-fast, sharp, and low turn. Then, in a blur of hair, muscle, and wind, they cut around the other two barrels. The entire spectacle only lasts seconds, but the speed and intensity of the run are absolutely riveting. One wrong move and the small girl gets pinned on the ground by her 700-pound companion (there are videos of this happening by the way, and it’s devastating).
In no sense is this a classical or aesthetic event; it’s raw. The horse and the rider choose to dance together on the edge of their wilderness. They embody a feral grace and calculated chaos. The girl and the horse know how to engage in forces beyond themselves. Together, they learn and exemplify the ability to stay in rhythm with both chaos and control without being crushed by either one.
As we enter into the year of the fire horse, I want to take this barrel race lesson with me. The more trust that I can build in the relationship with my life, the more faith I have in God, in the mighty forces beyond me, the Maya, moving me and whipping me around this dirt arena, the better chance I have of not being crushed by it. It is an intuitive relationship that asks you to disrobe your garments of fear and trepidation.
The element of fire also speaks to this theme. When I practiced elemental magic, I loved working with fire. Something seemingly so dangerous only needed a little bit of trust and understanding. My body is made of earth, my blood and tears of water, and my breath of wind, but fire… fire is the SPIRIT. And the spirit is not accessed or wielded in the way these other elements are. Fire is more magical and elusive; it seems to appear out of thin air, but it takes quite a bit of work to conjure and to keep alive. With this understanding, I see 2026 as a year of active collaboration with spirit. 2025 was the year of the wood snake, a year of work with the inner self. 2025 was crawling on your belly, listening for the subtle truths of your inner being, finding what will make you grow. 2026 is taking the wood and feeding it to the fire; dancing with the flames and galloping forward with it.
♞.°˖⋆ Affirmations °˖⋆♞
I trust that my wild is a safe place
I trust that I can run free and still hear when I’m called home
I trust the reins and the saddles placed upon me are not permanent, but armor and tools for a divine task
I am the muscle that spirit works through
I know when to slow my gait as not to trample on others
℧ Reflection Q’s ℧
-Where have you acted a little too wild or too fiery? Take inventory and walk with this knowledge into the new year, knowing when to snuff or even fan your flames.
-What is a horse you are scared to ride? Buy the horse.
-Where am I holding onto the reins too tight? What am I desperate to control? What do I think could happen if I released my grip on this a bit? Are these reasonable outcomes or just fears? List all of the good things that could happen if you choose trust over control.
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With love xoxo, Chloeandclover ☘︎ ݁˖⋆xoxo
Chloeandclover 