For example "Ark for PS4" or "Update my Server"
CONTENT ON THIS SITE
GPORTAL
Home / Wiki / Minecraft / Minecraft Horses
Minecraft
Genre: Open-World-Survival
Studio: Mojang
Publisher: Mojang
Rent a Minecraft Server
Rent a server
Genre: Open-World-Survival
Studio: Mojang
Publisher: Mojang
Rent a Minecraft Server

Minecraft Horses

When it comes to personal transportation, Minecraft has a lot to offer. From boats to the legendary elytra, there are a lot of options laid out before you. But of course, players will find themselves walking on land most of the time (Unless you use a mod like the Aether mod or have a particularly ocean biome-heavy seed). To traverse the vast forests, hills and mountains of the cubic world, you can take your time to build elaborate rail systems, tame camels or walk for a very long time.

However, if you want a fast and simple travel solution, nothing really beats the Minecraft horse. Like their real-life counterparts, horses in Minecraft are land-based mammals that can be tamed relatively easily and let you ride on their backs. We will show you how to breed horses in Minecraft, the types of horses there are and how to tame horses in Minecraft in the first place.

Overview Minecraft Horses:

  • mob that offers transport
  • subtypes: donkeys, mules, skeleton horses, zombie horses
  • can be bred to have ideal stats
  • were introduced in the 1.6.1. ‘Horse Update’

How to Tame a Horse in Minecraft

To get your hands onto a horse in Minecraft, you first need to find one. Minecraft horses usually spawn around villages but can als be found in the savannah and plains biomes in groups of 2-6 individuals. If they spawn close to villages, they are sometimes already fenced in, making taming horses in Minecraft even easier. Once you have found them, you can start the taming process. 

To tame a horse, you need to right-click on it with empty hands. Your character will now try to mount the horse but will be thrown off again shortly after. Now, you just have to repeat this process until the horse lets you stay on its back. You can expedite this process by feeding the Minecraft horse. Once you can see hearts appearing above the horse, it is considered a tamed Minecraft horse. It is a simple process, though it can take some time depending on the horse’s temper.. Additionally, you don’t need any extra items to get a Minecraft horse tamed, which makes horses one of the easiest animals to tame in Minecraft.

Finding a Saddle

Once you have successfully tamed the horse, you need to equip it with a saddle in order to fully control its movements. Otherwise it will just continue roaming around freely with you on its back. Unfortunately, saddles can’t be crafted. However, there are many ways to get a saddle: First, ravagers and striders drop saddles. The former can be encountered during a raid, although it can be quite risky to trigger a raid just to get a saddle. The latter offers a far more safe option, provided you have sufficient fire protection, as striders can be primarily found walking through lava. Second, saddles can be found in many places in the world, such as villages, Nether fortresses, jungle pyramids, dungeons, and End cities. You can also acquire them by trading emeralds with leatherworker villagers, which need a cauldron to learn their profession. If you are very lucky, you can even find a saddle while fishing!

How to Saddle a Horse in Minecraft

First of all, only a tamed horse can be saddled! If you own a saddle, you can saddle your horse by right-clicking on it while holding the saddle in your hand. Then you can mount it.

How to Ride Horses in Minecraft

While you sit on your saddled horse, Minecraft’s UI changes slightly, showing a jump bar. While you ride the horse, holding down the jumping button fills the bar, releasing it at the right moment causes your horse to jump higher than usual. Riding a horse in Minecraft offers numerous advantages, since horses are usually faster than walking normally and can even outspeed minecarts easily. The exact speed of your horse depends on some stats we will look at later. 

Minecraft horses automatically jump over obstacles that have a block height of 1, making traveling through plains and savannas very easy. Being in mountainous areas or jungles can make riding a horse in Minecraft difficult, however. Additional hazards include your character’s height while they sit on the horse. Being higher up can lead to suffocation damage if you try to traverse lower ceilings. Additionally, inexperienced players can easily fall to their death from great heights, as horses jump higher and farther than normal players.

How to Breed Horses in Minecraft

For a detailed guide to breeding, consider our article on the subject. In short, breeding horses requires you to feed them with a golden apple or a golden carrot. The horses turn to each other and after a short time a foal appears. Congratulations, you have just bred your first horse! Keep in mind, however, that the foal is not tame and will not be fully grown until the next day. Then can you tame your new horse.

As we alluded to earlier, every horse has certain stats assigned to it when it spawns. These stats include:

When you breed horses, the baby horse will have a mixture of its parent’s stats. This means that if you breed 2 horses with similarly high health but very different speed stats, the baby horse will have high health and average speed. Besides horses, however, you can also breed a horse with a donkey. While breeding Minecraft horses results in a foal, mixing donkeys and horses leads to a mule. Mules themselves cannot breed but can be useful in certain circumstances.

Breeding 2 horses also has another side effect: color mixing. As you might have already noticed, horses in Minecraft can come in 35 different variants. These are made up the following colors for their base fur:

  • white
  • creamy
  • chestnut
  • brown
  • black
  • grey
  • dark brown

Aside from these, every horse can have markings on its body (although they can also spawn without any markings) in the following patterns:

  • white stockings and blaze (stripes on their legs and forehead)
  • white field (large white spots on their body and head)
  • white spots (small white spots on their body and head)
  • black dots (large black spots on their body and legs)

When bred, horses in Minecraft tend to keep their parent’s patterns, though they can also spawn with a completely random pattern instead.

Types of Rideable Animals in Minecraft

While we did mention donkeys and mules before, we have not yet given you an in-depth look. Different species with different characteristics fall under the category of horses in Minecraft, as they all use the same model, though with different textures. As we focused only on the horse before, you may have the misconception that donkeys and mules are strictly worse versions of the Minecraft horse. However, all of them have certain advantages and disadvantages:

Horses 

Advantages:

  • Speed: Horses are very fast, with speed varying among individual horses. This makes them ideal for covering long distances quickly.
  • Jump Height: Horses generally have the highest jump potential, with some capable of jumping over 5 blocks. This is useful for navigating uneven terrain or crossing obstacles.
  • Armor: Horses can be equipped with armor (Iron, Gold, Diamond, or Leather), offering them additional protection against damage. This makes them more durable in combat situations.

Disadvantages:

  • No Inventory: Horses cannot carry items or chests, which limits their utility for long journeys where storage is needed.
  • Inconsistent Stats: Horse stats vary widely, meaning you might need to tame and test several horses to find one with optimal speed, health, and jump height.
  • Complex Breeding: Breeding horses to achieve desired stats can be time-consuming due to the randomness involved in offspring traits.

Donkeys 

Advantages:

  • Storage Capacity: Donkeys can carry a chest with 15 inventory slots. This makes them excellent pack animals for transporting items.
  • Consistency: Donkeys have more consistent, albeit lower, stats compared to horses. You generally know what you’re getting in terms of speed, health, and jump height.
  • Breeding: Donkeys can be bred easily to produce offspring with similar traits. This makes it easy to maintain a steady supply of pack animals.

Disadvantages:

  • Slow Speed: Donkeys are comparatively slow, making them less ideal for rapid travel.
  • Low Jump Height: Donkeys have low jump height, which can make navigating hilly or uneven terrain more difficult.
  • No Armor: Unlike Minecraft horses, donkeys cannot wear armor, making them vulnerable in dangerous areas.

Mules 

Advantages:

  • Storage Capacity: Like, donkeys, mules can carry a chest, providing 15 inventory slots.
  • Hybrid Traits: Mules inherit traits from both horses and donkeys, often resulting in balanced stats. They tend to be faster and can jump higher than donkeys, but with the added benefit of storage.
  • Breeding: Mules are bred by crossing a horse with a donkey, allowing you to selectively breed for specific traits if desired.

Disadvantages:

  • Non-Breedable: Once bred, mules cannot reproduce, limiting their availability. You’ll need to continuously breed horses and donkeys to get new mules.
  • Mediocre Speed and Jump: While mules have better speed and jump capabilities than donkeys, they usually do not match the best horses in these aspects.
  • No Armor: Like donkeys, mules cannot wear armor, leaving them more vulnerable to damage compared to horses.

Skeleton Horses 

Aside from the living animals we have discussed before, there are also  horses that cannot be tamed or reproduced. You can find them during thunderstorms, as they appear when a thunderbolt strikes the ground. Keep in mind that you cannot force a Minecraft skeleton horse to appear by way of enchanted tridents or lightning rods. Once spawned, the skeleton will gain a rider and begin attacking you. If you defeat the skeleton rider, you can take away his already tame skeleton horse.

Advantages:

  • No Need for a Saddle: Skeleton horses can be ridden without requiring a saddle, which is particularly useful if you do not have one available.
  • Underwater Mobility: Skeleton horses can walk on the bottom of bodies of water without drowning. This makes them very useful for traversing aquatic environments or crossing rivers and lakes.
  • Speed: Skeleton horses typically have higher speed than donkeys and mules, making them relatively fast, though they may not be as fast as the best horses.
  • Unique Appearance: Skeleton horses have a distinct skeletal look, making them a cool, rare mount that stands out from other horses and mobs..
  • No Fall Damage: Skeleton horses do not take fall damage, allowing them to traverse steep drops without any risk.

Disadvantages:

  • No Armor: Like mules and donkeys, skeleton horses cannot wear armor, leaving them more vulnerable to attacks compared to regular horses.
  • No Inventory: Skeleton horses, like regular horses, cannot carry chests, limiting their utility for transporting goods.
  • Difficult to Obtain: Skeleton horses are relatively rare and can only be obtained through a thunderstorm. This makes them more challenging to acquire compared to regular horses, mules, or donkeys.
  • No Breeding: Skeleton horses cannot be bred, so their numbers are limited to what you find or acquire in-game.
  • Lower Health: Skeleton horses generally have lower health compared to the best regular horses, making them less durable in combat situations.

Zombie Horses

Zombie horses are another undead horse breed, but one that does not occur naturally in the game. They have similar characteristics to skeleton horses but can only be spawned using the “/summon zombie_horse” command. If you want a tame zombie horse, you must append “~ ~ {Tame:true}” to the command. Unlike their bony relatives, you cannot ride zombie horses underwater.

Conclusion: Minecraft Horses

In conclusion, horses in Minecraft add a dynamic and versatile element to the game, offering players enhanced mobility, utility, and customization options. Whether you’re exploring vast terrains, battling mobs, or simply enjoying the ride, horses provide a valuable companion that can significantly enhance your gameplay experience. From the thrill of taming and breeding to the strategic advantages of choosing the right mount for your adventures, mastering the use of horses opens up a world of possibilities in the Minecraft universe. Whether you prefer the speed and power of regular horses, the storage capabilities of mules and donkeys, or the unique characteristics of skeleton or zombie horses, each brings its own set of benefits and challenges, making them an integral part of any player’s journey. Do you now wish to breed the best possible horse or just want to enjoy riding into the sunset? Then you should try using a Minecraft server form G-Portal, where you can run wild and free.

MORE ABOUT MINECRAFT

similar articles

Minecraft

Minecraft Camel

Minecraft

Minecraft Bows and Arrows

Minecraft

Minecraft Shaders

EU: Ociris GmbH
Aschauer Str. 32a
81549 München

US: GPORTAL, Inc
3416 Hillcrest Dr
Waco, TX 76708

support@g-portal.com

Copyright © 2003-2025 by Ociris GmbH. All rights reserved.
The logos and brandmarks displayed on the Website may be trademarked by their respective owners. g-portal.com, Intel® Core™, AMD™ and others are protected by legal standards. All rights reserved.