From the command line run the make font directory command:
$ mkfontdir $HOME/fonts
In the top of either your .xinitrc or .xsession
file (the exact file depends on your distribution), add the following:
xset +fp $HOME/fonts
xsetroot -cursor_name X_cursor
Now restart your X server. If everything went as it should your updated cursors should now be displayed in place of the standard system cursors.
Alternatively, instead of installing the new cursor file in your home directory
you can replace the cursor file in your X11 fonts directory. On my system the
cursor font file is located in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts.