How to Grab All Horse Armor in Minecraft (2025 Update)

Horse armor is a cool way to keep your horse safe from attacks in Minecraft. With the new copper horse armor added in 2025, you’ve got five types to collect: leather, copper, iron, gold, and diamond. This guide breaks down how to get each one, where to find them, and what’s new, all based on the latest game updates.

1. About Horse Armor in Minecraft

Function

Horse armor protects regular horses (not donkeys, mules, or skeleton/zombie horses) from melee and ranged damage. It doesn’t help with fall damage or change how fast your horse moves. Unlike player armor, horse armor never breaks and lasts forever.

Stats

Each type gives different protection levels:

Leather: 3 armor points
Copper: 5 armor points
Iron: 7 armor points
Gold: 9 armor points
Diamond: 11 armor points

In Survival mode, you can’t enchant horse armor. In Creative, you can slap on enchantments like Thorns, Depth Strider, Feather Falling, Respiration, or Curse of Vanishing using an anvil, but other enchantments might glitch out and do nothing.

2. How to Get Leather Horse Armor

Crafting

Leather horse armor is the only one you can craft. Grab 7 leather and arrange it in an “H” shape on the crafting table:

L L L
L L
L L

(L = Leather)

Other Sources

Check village tanner chests for a 17.3% drop chance.
Sometimes, leatherworker villagers drop leather horse armor if killed by you or your tamed wolf, but it’s rare.

3. How to Get Copper Horse Armor (New in 2025)

Crafting

Copper horse armor, fresh for 2025, is craftable. You’ll need 7 copper ingots in that same “H” shape:

C C C
C C
C C

(C = Copper Ingot)

Other Sources

Look in drowned ruins chests for a 15.6% chance to find it, especially in ocean biomes.
Drowned mobs sometimes drop copper horse armor (2% chance, better with Looting enchantment).
Check shipwreck treasure chests for a 9.8% drop rate.

Notes

Copper armor oxidizes over time, changing its look unless you wax it with honeycomb. This doesn’t mess with its protection, though.

4. How to Get Iron Horse Armor

Sources

You can’t craft iron horse armor, but you can loot it from:

Dungeons: 22% chance in chests.
Mineshafts: 14.1% chance in chests.
Strongholds: 8.7% chance in altar chests.
Village weaponsmith chests: 5.7% chance.

Best Spot

Dungeons are your go-to for iron horse armor drops because of the high spawn rate. Dig around underground caves or strip-mine to find them.

5. How to Get Gold Horse Armor

Sources

Gold horse armor isn’t craftable either, but you can find it in:

Nether Fortresses: 29.1% chance in chests.
Ruined Portals: 20.5% chance in chests.
Bastion Remnants: 11.2% chance in treasure chests.
Desert Temples: 6.3% chance in chests.

Best Spot

Nether Fortresses are the top location for gold horse armor drops. To find one:

Build a Nether portal near your Overworld spawn to pop out near the Nether’s center.
Scout northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast, avoiding Bastion Remnant zones.
If cheats are on, use /locate fortress to get the nearest fortress coordinates.
Plug your world seed into tools like Chunkbase to map out Nether Fortresses.

6. How to Get Diamond Horse Armor

Sources

Diamond horse armor, the toughest of the bunch, can’t be crafted. Loot it from:

Nether Fortresses: 11.8% chance in chests.
End Cities: 7.6% chance in chests.
Jungle Temples: 6.3% chance in chests.
Desert Temples: 6.3% chance in chests.
Strongholds: 5.7% chance in altar chests.
Village weaponsmith chests: 5.7% chance.

Best Spot

Nether Fortresses are the best bet for diamond horse armor due to their solid drop rate. Use the same fortress-hunting tips as for gold armor.

Tips for Nether Fortresses

Pack fire resistance potions and good gear to handle blazes and wither skeletons.
Use a map or compass to track where you’ve been.
If you’re stuck, enable cheats for /locate fortress or check your seed on online tools.

Extra Tips

Trading: In 2025, some expert-level armorer villagers might trade iron, gold, or diamond horse armor for emeralds, but it’s not common and needs a leveled-up villager.
Looting Enchantment: Boosts the odds of drowned dropping copper horse armor.
Exploration Gear: Night vision potions or spectral arrows help spot chests in dark places like dungeons or Nether Fortresses.
Seed Tools: Chunkbase is still handy in 2025 for finding structures with horse armor.

With some crafting, looting, and smart exploring, you’ll snag all the horse armor types in Minecraft, including the shiny new copper one from 2025. Get out there and gear up your horse!