Taming a horse in Minecraft is one of the best ways to save your time to travel long distances and also have a good companion for some company in the game. Horses are a passive mob that provide faster travel, and better mobility over rough terrain to explore the map. But before you can ride off into the sunset, you need to tame a horse first in Minecraft. This guide explains where to find horses, how to tame them, and how to equip them with saddles and armor.
Where to Find a Horse in Minecraft
Horses are naturally found in specific biomes, usually spawning in herds of 2–6. The best places to look for them are:
- Plains Biome – It’s the most common place to find horses, as the open fields provide plenty of space for them to roam.
- Savanna Biome – Another great location where horses naturally spawn.
- Villages – You will occasionally find them in stables in the villages.
When having difficulty encountering a horse, you can also use a spawn egg in Creative Mode or use a cheat command to summon one instantly.
How to Tame Horses in Minecraft
Unlike other tamable animals in Minecraft like wolves or cats, you don’t need food to tame a horse. Instead, the taming happens in another simple way. Make sure your hotbar is empty (not holding any items). Horses are passive mobs, so they won’t attack you. Once close enough, interact with the horse to mount it:
- PC (Java/Windows 10 Edition) – Right-click on the horse.
- Pocket Edition (PE) – Tap the Mount button.
- Xbox/PlayStation – Press the LT/L2 button on your controller.
- Nintendo Switch/Wii U – Press ZL on your controller.
The horse will likely buck you off the first few times. That’s normal but keep getting back on until hearts appear above its head, indicating that you’ve successfully tamed it. Each attempt increases the horse’s temper which makes it more likely to accept you. On average, it takes about 5–6 attempts to tame a horse, though a few may require more tries.
Before trying to mount and tame it, it’s better to increase the horse’s willingness by feeding this food:
- Sugar, Apples, Wheat – +3% taming chance
- Golden Carrots – +5% taming chance
- Golden Apples – +10% taming chance
How to Ride a Horse in Minecraft
After taming the horse, you can sit on it, but you won’t be able to control it until you equip a saddle. Saddles are not craftable, so you’ll have to find one from:
- Dungeon Chests
- Nether Fortress Chests
- Fishing (rare loot drop)
- Trading with Villagers
After getting a saddle, open inventory while mounted on the horse and drag the saddle into the specific slot. Exit the inventory, and now you can control and ride the horse as you like. You can move the horse in any direction using the standard controls like normal characters. Jump over obstacles by holding the jump button to charge up power and then releasing it. For dismount, press Shift on the PC, Right Stick on the console, or Sneak button on mobile devices.
How to Use a Lead to Keep Your Horse Safe
If you don’t have a saddle yet but still want to keep your horse nearby, you can use a lead (leash). You can make a lead with 4 String (from spiders) and 1 Slimeball (from slimes). Other than crafting, these can be obtained in woodland mansions or by killing wandering traders. To use a lead, equip the lead and right-click/tap on the horse. Walk with the horse following you and again right-click/tap on a fence post to tie the horse in place. Leads are valuable for keeping your horse from wandering off even without a saddle.
How to Breed Horses in Minecraft
If you want more horses in Minecraft without the trouble of taming, you can breed them to produce more – only tamed horses can be bred. To breed, give each horse Golden Apples or Golden Carrots to activate “Love Mode”. A baby horse (foal) will appear. It will inherit a mix of its parents’ traits, but it won’t be tamable until it grows up about 20 minutes in real-time. To add more, breeding a horse with a donkey creates a mule, which can carry chests but cannot be bred further.
Each horse has different unique stats such as speed, jump height, and health varies between them. Further, horses heal over time but you can speed up their healing by feeding them healthy food. Some horses are faster than minecarts. The fastest horses can travel at 14 blocks per second compared to a minecart’s 8 blocks per second.
