Want to travel across the big landscapes of the sandbox world? We have horses. In this guide, Gurugamer.com will cover everything you should know about horses in Minecraft, including how to find, tame, breed, and customize their appearance. So, grab your saddle and some golden carrots, and follow us!
Table of Contents
What are horses in Minecraft?
Horses are friendly mobs in Minecraft that can be ridden once tamed and equipped with a saddle.
Where to find horses in Minecraft?
Horses appear naturally in Minecraft, often found in groups of 2 to 6 in plains and savannas. They come in various colors and markings, with each horse having an equal chance of any combination. All horses share the same color within a herd, though their markings may differ. Approximately 20% of these horses spawn as foals.
Additionally, when you explore villages in Minecraft, you might find them with stables and animal pens housing horses.
Horse appearance in Minecraft
In Minecraft, horses vary in appearance, with each having distinctive patterns and markings. Even the baby horses, known as foals, boast their own charming appearance.
Speaking of size, adult horses are a comfortable 1.4 blocks wide and long, and 1.6 blocks tall.
Fun fact: Foals start out half the size of their parents but in the Bedrock Edition, they gradually grow bigger as they get older!
Unlike cats and wolves, once you've tamed a horse, its appearance won't change. But don't worry about cookie-cutter stables! You can still personalize your trusty steed with different saddles and other cool gear.
Horses in Minecraft have a sturdy physique. They come in 7 base colors:
- white
- black
- buckskin
- flaxen chestnut
- Bay
- dark bay
- dapple gray
Moreover, they can display 5 marking patterns:
- no markings
- stockings and blaze
- paint
- snowflake appaloosa
- sooty
This results in a total of 35 unique coat combinations for horses in the game.
What do horses eat in Minecraft?
Feeding a horse in Minecraft can change its behavior, help it grow (if it's a foal, which typically takes 20 minutes to mature without feeding), and/or restore its health. Below is a table detailing the effects of different foods that horses can consume. It's worth noting that zombie and skeleton horses cannot be fed, even if they are tamed.
How to feed horses in Minecraft?
To feed a horse in Minecraft, hold a suitable food item and interact with the horse by pressing the use button. If you try to feed it with an inappropriate food item, you will instead mount the horse. Horses can only be fed when the food item has an effect, similar to feeding other mobs in the game.
| Food | Heals | Speeds growth by | Increases temper | Notes |
| Sugar | 1 | 30 sec (600 ticks) | +3 | |
| Wheat | 2 | 20 sec (400 ticks) | +3 | |
| Apple | 3 | 1 min (1200 ticks) | +3 | |
| Golden Carrot | 4 | 1 min (1200 ticks) | +5 | Triggers love mode in tamed horses. |
| Golden Apple | 10 | 4 min (4800 ticks) | +10 | Triggers love mode in tamed horses.
Enchanted golden apples also have this effect. |
| Hay Bale | 20 | 3 min (3600 ticks) | N/A | Untamed adult horses cannot be fed hay bales. |
How do you tame a horse in Minecraft?
To tame a horse in Minecraft, you need to keep trying to ride it until it stops trying to throw you off. How quickly the horse gets tamed depends on its "temper."
At first, the horse starts with a temper of 0 out of 100. When you first try to ride it, a random number between 0 and 99 is chosen. If the horse's temper is higher than this number, it becomes tame. If not, you'll get thrown off, and the horse's temper goes up by 5. This process repeats each time you try to mount the horse. Feeding the horse can also increase its temper.
Once you've ridden the horse enough times and it shows hearts above it, that means it's fully tamed and ready for you to ride.
How to breed horses in Minecraft
As we noted in the table in the feeding section, feeding two tamed horses golden apples or golden carrots triggers love mode, prompting them to mate and produce a foal. Foals appear smaller and more slender compared to adult horses, and they mature gradually over time. Feeding the foal can accelerate its growth to full size.
Breeding horses in Minecraft is a fun way to get new foals with unique colors and markings. Here's how it works:
- Matching Parents, Matching Foals (usually): Normally, your foal will inherit its look from one of its parents – same coat color, same markings, the whole package!
- Surprise! Sometimes (about a 30% chance), your foal might be a little more unexpected. It could have a brand new coat color and markings, maybe even a mix of both parents!
- Donkeys in the Mix: Breeding a horse with a donkey creates a mule, a strong but stubborn friend. However, keep in mind that mules can't be bred any further.
We'll get more into the exact chances of each foal type in a bit, but for now, this should give you a good idea of how to breed horses and get some cool-looking foals!
| Color of horse A | Color of horse B | Random color | Total | |
| Markings of horse A | 17.78% | 17.78% | 4.44% | 40% |
| Markings of horse B | 17.78% | 17.78% | 4.44% | 40% |
| Random markings | 8.89% | 8.89% | 2.22% | 20% |
| Total | 44.44% | 44.44% | 11.11% |
These probabilities show the chances of each outcome occurring when breeding two horses in Minecraft.
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How to use horses in Minecraft
In Minecraft, tamed and saddled horses serve as efficient means of transportation. When ridden, they can move faster and jump higher than a player on foot. Horses are adept at navigating hills and jumping over fences, with some capable of clearing heights up to five blocks, far surpassing a player's typical jump height of about one block (without a jump boost).
Horses controlled by a player cannot stay afloat on water. They can be ridden in water up to 2 blocks deep, but in deeper water, the player will be automatically dismounted.
In Minecraft, you can lead your horse around just like a trusty canine companion. But here's the cool part: you can also use a lead to tow your horse in two unique ways:
- Horse-powered boating: Attach a lead to your horse and it'll happily swim behind your boat, giving you a hands-free ride across the water!
- Aquatic chariot (Bedrock Edition only): This one's a bit tricky. First, attach the lead to a boat (not the horse!). Then, with the horse safely inside, hop in the water and swim, towing your very own horse-drawn boat!
Equipment
Tamed horses in Minecraft have two specific slots available:
- Horse Armor Slot: Reserved exclusively for equipping horse armor.
- Saddle Slot: Used for equipping a saddle.
Foals cannot be equipped with armor or saddles.
You can equip items on a horse in Minecraft by holding the item and then using it on the horse, or by accessing the horse's inventory directly. To access a horse's inventory, you can either mount the horse and use the inventory control, or in Bedrock Edition, sneak and press the "open inventory" button on the horse.
How to ride a horse in Minecraft
After successfully taming and saddling a horse in Minecraft, players can navigate it using standard directional controls and adjust its movements with the mouse. To dismount, simply use the dismount control. However, similar to riding other entities, players cannot use a nether portal or end portal while riding a horse.
When riding a saddled horse in Minecraft, it automatically traverses slopes up to one block high. The horse and rider can pass through spaces as low as 2.75 blocks high without issue. That said, if the clearance is lower, there's a risk of the rider suffocating if their head enters a non-transparent block. The horse itself can navigate gaps as low as 1.625 blocks high, but may take suffocation damage if the clearance is less than 1.75 blocks. It's important to note that horses cannot fit through gaps that are only 1 block wide.
The speed of horses in Minecraft ranges from 4.74 blocks/second to 14.23 blocks/second, which can exceed the player's walking speed of approximately 4.317 blocks/second. Around 82% of horses are faster than a minecart. Horses move backward slowly, similar to the player's sideways movement speed. A horse's speed can be further influenced by potions. Notably, a horse's speed is not related to its outward appearance.
When riding a saddled horse, you can make use of the "jumping charging" ability. While riding, the experience bar on the HUD is replaced by a jumping charging bar. By holding the jump control, the player can charge up for a higher leap when the horse jumps. It's important to note that horses are not affected by jump boosts from beacons or potions.
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