How to Tame and Breed Horses in Minecraft: Complete Guide

Horses in Minecraft are versatile mobs that can be tamed, ridden, bred, and even equipped with armor. They're an excellent means of transportation, allowing players to traverse the world quickly. This guide will walk you through the process of finding, taming, breeding, and riding horses in Minecraft.

Horses were added to Minecraft in version 1.6, also known as "The Horse Update," which was released on July 1, 2013.

• Horses spawn naturally in plains and savanna biomes.
• They usually spawn in herds of 2-6.
• Different coat colors and patterns are available, including some rare ones.
• Horses can also be found in village stables in plains and savanna villages.

1. Approach the horse slowly to avoid startling it.
2. Right-click on the horse (or press the use button) with an empty hand to mount it.
3. You will be bucked off repeatedly. Keep mounting the horse until hearts appear, indicating it's tamed.
4. Feeding the horse sugar, apple, or wheat can speed up the taming process.

Tip: The taming process is random, so it may take several attempts before the horse is successfully tamed.

1. Once tamed, you can mount the horse at any time.
2. To control the horse, you'll need a saddle.
3. Open the horse's inventory (right-click while mounted) and place the saddle in the appropriate slot.
4. Now you can control the horse's movement using the standard movement keys.

Note: Saddles can be found in dungeon chests, village chests, or purchased from leatherworker villagers.

One of the most common questions players have is whether you can craft a saddle in Minecraft. The short answer is: No, you cannot craft a saddle in vanilla Minecraft. Saddles are one of the few items that must be found rather than crafted.

How to Get a Saddle in Minecraft

Since you can't craft saddles, here are all the ways to obtain them:

• Dungeon Chests: Saddles can be found in chests within dungeons, abandoned mineshafts, and nether fortresses.
• Village Chests: Some village buildings, particularly in plains and savanna villages, may contain chests with saddles.
• Fishing: Saddles are a rare "treasure" item that can be caught while fishing (approximately 0.8% chance).
• Trading: Master-level leatherworker villagers have a chance to sell saddles for 6 emeralds.
• Ravager Drops: Ravagers, which spawn during village raids, have a 100% chance to drop a saddle when killed.
• End City Chests: Chests in End Cities may contain saddles.

Saddles in Modded Minecraft

While vanilla Minecraft doesn't allow crafting saddles, many mods do add crafting recipes for them. These typically involve leather and iron, though the exact recipe varies by mod. If you're playing with mods, check the mod documentation for specific crafting recipes.

Breeding horses in Minecraft allows you to combine traits and potentially get offspring with better stats. Here's how to breed horses:

Breeding Requirements

• Two tamed adult horses
• Golden apples or golden carrots (one for each horse)
• The horses must be close to each other

Breeding Process

1. Tame two horses if you haven't already.
2. Feed each horse a golden apple or golden carrot by right-clicking on them while holding the item.
3. Hearts will appear above both horses, indicating they're in "love mode."
4. The horses will move toward each other and produce a foal (baby horse).
5. The foal will inherit traits from both parent horses.

Foal Development

• A foal takes about 20 minutes (one Minecraft day) to grow into an adult horse.
• You can speed up growth by feeding the foal sugar, wheat, apples, golden apples, or golden carrots.
• Each feeding reduces the growing time by about 10% (30 seconds).
• Foals cannot be ridden until they grow into adults.

Trait Inheritance

When breeding horses, the foal's stats are determined by combining traits from both parents and adding some randomization:

• Speed: The foal's speed will be an average of the parents' speeds, plus a random factor between -0.15 and +0.15.
• Jump height: The foal's jump height will be an average of the parents' jump heights, plus a random factor between -0.4 and +0.4.
• Health: The foal's health will be an average of the parents' health, plus a random factor between -1 and +2.
• Appearance: The foal's color and markings are randomly selected from either parent or a combination of both.