Horse in 2026
2026 is a Horse year. The Horse branch returns: this is called Ben Ming Nian, the animal’s own year.
Read Horse with Horse →Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water Horse
Wood Horse
Years: 1954, 2014.
Wood feeds the Horse's Fire in the five-element cycle, bringing growth and support to a sign already associated with movement. This reading gives the Horse's enthusiasm a shared purpose: gathering companions around an idea, exploring several possibilities and sometimes accepting more commitments than one journey can hold.
Wood Horse birth dates and next year →Fire Horse
Years: 1906, 1966, 2026.
The Fire Horse joins a Fire year element to the Horse's own Fire, concentrating the traditional themes of animation and independence. Its character reading emphasizes immediate involvement, lively persuasion and a strong wish to set its own pace, with impatience when discussion delays the start.
Fire Horse birth dates and next year →Earth Horse
Years: 1918, 1978, 2038.
The Horse's Fire generates Earth, so the Earth Horse directs the animal's activity toward something that takes shape and lasts. In character terms, the emphasis falls on making enthusiasm useful through a finished task, a dependable routine or a practical commitment that survives the initial rush.
Earth Horse birth dates and next year →Metal Horse
Years: 1930, 1990.
Fire controls Metal in the five-element cycle, placing the Metal Horse's year element in tension with the Horse's own Fire. The traditional reading pairs a wish for freedom with firm standards, describing someone eager to choose the route but equally determined about how the journey is made.
Metal Horse birth dates and next year →Water Horse
Years: 1942, 2002.
Water controls the Horse's Fire, introducing restraint and adjustment into the traditional image of a sign eager to move. The Water Horse reading gives greater weight to sensing the mood, changing an approach and finding an opening through conversation before committing all its energy to a direction.
Water Horse birth dates and next year →Horse personality traits
The Horse's traditional character is drawn around movement, independence and the pleasure of joining in. It is quick to volunteer, persuasive in company and eager to turn an idea into something happening now. The same appetite for activity can scatter attention when several possibilities compete. Its characteristic tension is between the freedom to choose a direction and the patience to stay with it after the first excitement fades.
Horse: best and difficult matches
Rat: Horse (午) stands six positions opposite Rat (子), the contrast called a Six Clash in the traditional pairing.
Tiger: Horse and Tiger share the Fire trine; Dog completes their three-animal group.
Goat: Horse (午) and Goat (未) form one of the six fixed harmony pairs, traditionally read as a complementary connection.
Dog: Horse and Dog share the Fire trine; Tiger completes their three-animal group.
All twelve Horse compatibility pairings →Five forms · one twelve-day rhythm
The next Horse days
The branch repeats every twelve days. Its stem advances too, so these five occurrences have five different stem elements before the complete name repeats after sixty days. The Horse branch itself keeps Fire.
Yang Wood
17 September 2026
Yang Wood Horse · 甲午
Na Yin: Sand Metal · 沙中金
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Fire
29 September 2026
Yang Fire Horse · 丙午
Na Yin: Heavenly River Water · 天河水
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Earth
11 October 2026
Yang Earth Horse · 戊午
Na Yin: Heavenly Fire · 天上火
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Metal
23 October 2026
Yang Metal Horse · 庚午
Na Yin: Roadside Earth · 路旁土
Open this date’s planning window →Yang Water
4 November 2026
Yang Water Horse · 壬午
Na Yin: Willow Wood · 杨柳木
Open this date’s planning window →
The Na Yin name belongs to the complete pillar. It is a separate pairing from the stem’s element and the branch’s fixed element.
Chinese New Year to the final lunar day
Horse years and their exact boundaries
Use the interval, not just the Gregorian year number, for a birthday near January or February. A full Horse element-name returns sixty years later; the animal alone returns after twelve.
丙午 · Yang Fire Horse
1906 Horse year
25 January 1906 through 12 February 1907
戊午 · Yang Earth Horse
1918 Horse year
11 February 1918 through 31 January 1919
庚午 · Yang Metal Horse
1930 Horse year
30 January 1930 through 16 February 1931
壬午 · Yang Water Horse
1942 Horse year
15 February 1942 through 4 February 1943
甲午 · Yang Wood Horse
1954 Horse year
3 February 1954 through 23 January 1955
丙午 · Yang Fire Horse
1966 Horse year
21 January 1966 through 8 February 1967
戊午 · Yang Earth Horse
1978 Horse year
7 February 1978 through 27 January 1979
庚午 · Yang Metal Horse
1990 Horse year
27 January 1990 through 14 February 1991
壬午 · Yang Water Horse
2002 Horse year
12 February 2002 through 31 January 2003
甲午 · Yang Wood Horse
2014 Horse year
31 January 2014 through 18 February 2015
丙午 · Yang Fire Horse
2026 Horse year
17 February 2026 through 5 February 2027
戊午 · Yang Earth Horse
2038 Horse year
4 February 2038 through 23 January 2039
Solar month · clock period
The Horse month and double-hour
Summer branch month
Grain in Ear opens the Horse month at 5 June 2026, 23:48:21 UTC+8. It runs until Minor Heat at 7 July 2026, 09:56:57 UTC+8.
These are solar-term instants, not the first days of numbered lunar months.
Follow the whole summer season →11:00–12:59
The Horse double-hour occupies position 7 in the twelve-branch clock. It follows Snake and precedes Goat. A double-hour label describes a time of day; it does not determine the year or day animal.
The sets containing Horse
Harmony, season, trine and clash
Six Harmonies
Paired branches
This is a fixed two-branch pairing.
Three Harmonies · trines
Fire
These three animals form the full set; two animals show shared membership.
Three Meetings · seasons
Summer · Fire
These three animals form the full set; two animals show shared membership.
Six Clashes
Opposite branches
This is a fixed two-branch pairing.
The stems held inside Horse
Hidden stems are attached to the branch. The visible stem on a particular Horse day is the first character of that day’s two-character name.