Rakshar's

@rpepperpotshipssciencebros please forgive me for this one

We are kicking into a new lunar year (always exciting)

I, like many kids of the ‘90s, grew up going to Chinese buffets with those fun placemats showing the 12 zodiac animals and their associated years.

In my youth I was always a wee bit salty about being more in the year of the Snake. If my parents had pushed off things a little bit I could have been born in the year of the Horse. (How cool would that be? My zodiac would be one of my fav animals and SO COOL) ((I have since grown up and come to love the Snake as much))

I have still bought things with the horse on them when offered among the Chinese zodiac offerings. Because horses are still rad as hell. I was happy to visit the Horse during my 2020 Eastern Zodiac project, and I am excited to visit the Horse again for 2026.

Last year was finishing some cycles for me. Crossed some items off the bucket list from my teens (Mongolia was SO rad)) <Yes I am still working on a write up of that adventure for you all. Editing text is always such a time>

(

So here we are, moving into the year of the Fire Horse with renewed vim, vigor, and the energy of a mare in the shoot.

I did have this image sketched before leaving for FC, travel delays due to weather and the cold when I got home have lead to miserable dry times. I used to almost exclusively draw horses or equine creatures (see: Dräl) but over the years I render them with less frequency. It felt really good to give my inner child some art they would have loved.

The new PokéPark in Japan has a real-life Nurse Joy.