Horses are a mob in Minecraft which allow you to travel around the map at faster speeds. However there’s a lot to know about them, as they’ll require taming, breeding and healing. There are many different variations of horses in the game, with different styles. Although they all move at the same speed so there is no ‘best’ type of horse.
One thing you should know about horses in Minecraft is that you can move your horse around without owning a Saddle. By using a lead, you can attach the horse to a fence piece to stop it walking away.
This guide is appropriate for all versions of Minecraft, whether it be on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch or Pocket Edition. For more Minecraft Guides, make sure to stick around here at PwrDown.
Where to Find Horses in Minecraft
Horses spawn naturally in Minecraft, and there is no way for them to be spawned in artificially without entering Creative Mode. They spawn in herds, with each herd consisting of 2-6 horses.
By default, you can find horses in Minecraft by searching inside either Plains or Savannah Biomes. You can also search for Villages, checking to see if they have stables inside as these will also contain horses.
How to Tame a Horse in Minecraft
Taming horses in Minecraft is a relatively simple process. Without taming a horse, you won’t be able to control it, give it equipment such as a saddle and armor or breed it with other horses.
To tame a horse, simply interact with one whilst having an empty hand (by pressing right mouse button on PC). Your character will mount the horse and attempt to tame it. Horses have their own ‘tempers’ and will determine the success rate of taming a horse. After a few attempts, the horse will be tamed.
When you climb on top of a horse, chances are you will be bucked and kicked off. If you are, keep trying until the horse eventually accepts you. You will know this has happened as hearts will radiate from the horse. Now that a horse is tamed, you’re ready to ride it.
How to Ride a Horse in Minecraft
To ride horses in Minecraft, you will require a Saddle. If you don’t have a Saddle and don’t know where to obtain one, skip to the next section where we’ve provided some tips.
Once you have tamed your horse, you can equip it with a Saddle. To do this, crouch (SHIFT on Minecraft Java) and interact with your hose. The inventory interface will open up, where you can equip the Saddle into the correct slot.
You can also equip a Saddle whilst riding a horse. You can do this by again, pressing the use button which is E on PC.
With the Saddle equipped to the horse, you will be able to control it whilst riding. If you wish, you can also remove the Saddle at any time and move it to another horse. You can also dismount a horse by pressing SHIFT.
How to Get a Saddle
There are a few ways of obtaining Saddles in Minecraft. As of Minecraft 1.16, they do not have a crafting recipe and can only be obtained naturally.
Firstly, Saddles are classed as a ‘treasure’ item in regards to fishing. This means that you have around 1% chance of randomly receiving a saddle whilst fishing in Minecraft. The chance percent can be increased by applying enchantments to your fishing rod.
You also have a chance of being able to trade for a Saddle from Master-level Leather Workers. They’ll sell you one for 6 Emeralds, with the chances being 50% of them selling one (100% on Java Edition).
Though the easiest way to obtain a Saddle would be through treasure chests. They have a high chance of spawning inside Dungeons, Desert Temples, End Cities, Jungle Temples, Nether Fortresses, Strongholds, Villages and Bastion Remnants. Just search any chests that you come across.
How to Breed Horses in Minecraft
Before getting started with breeding horses in Minecraft, you should note that you need to have tamed at least two horses already. You can’t breed horses that you do not own, they will simply ignore you.
You can tame horses by feeding each one either Golden Apples or Golden Carrots. To craft these items, open up a Crafting Table. Place either an Apple or Carrot in the middle slot, then surround it with Gold Ingots. You’ll need one for each horse.
Once you’ve fed each horse a Golden Apple or Carrot, they will enter love mode and produce a foal. Horses may need to be close together to breed. Foals are not tamed, and can only be tamed once they grow into an adult.
Speed up the growing process of a baby horse in Minecraft by feeding it any of the following items: Sugar, Wheat, Apple, Golden Carrot, Golden Apple or Hay Bale.
How to Heal Horses in Minecraft
If your horse takes damage in Minecraft, you can heal it by feeding it one of the following items:
- Sugar: Heals for 1 health.
- Wheat: Heals for 2 health.
- Apple: Heals for 3 health.
- Golden Carrot: Heals for 4 health.
- Golden Apple: Heals for 10 health.
- Hay Bale: Heals for 20 health.
How to Craft Horse Armor
There are many tiers of Horse Armor available in Minecraft. These range from Leather, Iron, Gold and Diamond. Only the Leather Horse Armor can be crafted, the rest needs to be obtained naturally.
To craft Leather Horse Armor, which is the lowest tier, simply place Leather inside of a Crafting Table in a ‘H’ shape. It’s the same layout as for when you are crafting a Ladder. You can also obtain Leather Horse Armor from Expert-Level Leatherworker Villages for 6 Emeralds.
For the other tiers of Horse Armor which offer higher defenses, it’s down to luck mostly. They can spawn in Dungeons, Desert Temples, End Cities, Jungle Temples, Nether Fortresses, Strongholds, Villages, Jungle Temples and Ruined Portals. The percentage chance for finding them sits at below 10% per chest. Other horse armor tiers are Iron, Gold and Diamond.
How to Name Minecraft Horses
One of the final things you might want to do is give your horse a name. The process is like working with any other named item. First, you need to find a name tag, which spawn naturally and can be found in chests.
Take the name tag into an anvil and apply a name to it. With your new name tag, interact with your horse and it will now be named.
