The Year of the Horse in the Lunar New Year calendar begins on 17 February 2026 and ends on 5 February 2027, marking a 16-day festival that culminates with a full blood moon on 3 March 2026. This year is specifically the Year of the Fire Horse, part of a 60-year cycle combining the 12 zodiac animals with five elemental signs. Notably, the year will start and end with solar eclipses visible in Antarctica and West Africa, respectively.

Horses hold significant cultural and historical importance in Asian societies, especially in ancient and Imperial China, where they were vital for military, agricultural, and cultural purposes. Introduced from the West and Eurasian nomads, horses featured prominently in Chinese art and mythology, symbolizing traits like freedom, energy, independence, and adventure. Various domestic horse breeds, such as the Mongolian horse and Tibetan pony, trace their origins to ancient domestication by Eurasian nomads around 3500 BCE, with the rare Przewalski’s horse representing a wild ancestor reintroduced to Central Asia in recent decades.