Ever wondered how to tame a horse in Minecraft and ride it across your blocky world? It’s simpler than you might think, and it opens up a whole new level of exploration and fast travel. Forget walking everywhere; with a trusty steed, you can traverse vast landscapes, escape tricky situations, and generally make your Minecraft adventures much more exciting. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know, from finding your first horse to effectively training it for your needs.
Finding and Taming Your First Horse
Before you can train a horse, you need to find one and, well, tame it! Horses are quite common and tend to spawn in herds in plains and savannas biomes. Keep an eye out for these open, grassy areas as you explore.
Once you spot a horse, approach it. You won’t need any special items to initially tame it, just your bare hands. Right-click on the horse to attempt to mount it. Don’t be discouraged if it bucks you off the first few times – this is normal! Just keep mounting it repeatedly. Each time you’re thrown off, your “taming” progress slightly increases. Eventually, after several attempts, little red hearts will appear above the horse’s head, signifying that it is now tamed and yours.
What to Feed a Horse
While not strictly necessary for taming, feeding your horse can speed up the taming process and is crucial for its health and breeding. Horses love sugar, wheat, apples, and golden apples/carrots. Feeding them these items will also heal them if they’re injured.
- Sugar: Speeds up taming and growth.
- Wheat: Speeds up taming and growth.
- Apples: Speeds up taming and growth.
- Golden Apples/Carrots: Significantly speed up taming, growth, and healing.
You can also feed horses to make them breed if you have two tamed horses with full health.
Gearing Up Your Horse: Saddles and Armor
A tamed horse is great, but a horse with equipment is even better! To actually ride and control your horse, you’ll need a saddle. Unfortunately, saddles cannot be crafted in Minecraft. You’ll need to find them in chests scattered throughout the world in places like dungeons, desert temples, village chests, abandoned mineshafts, and strongholds. Nether fortresses and End cities also have a chance to spawn saddles in their chests.
Once you have a saddle, right-click on your tamed horse while holding the saddle. This will open the horse’s inventory screen, where you can place the saddle. With the saddle equipped, you can now ride your horse by right-clicking on it. Use the standard movement keys (W, A, S, D) to control its direction, and the spacebar to jump.
Horses can also wear armor for protection, making them more resilient in combat. Horse armor comes in four types: leather, iron, gold, and diamond. Like saddles, horse armor cannot be crafted and must be found in the same loot chests. To equip horse armor, open the horse’s inventory screen (while sneaking and right-clicking the horse with an empty hand) and place the armor piece in the designated slot.
Training Your Horse in Minecraft: Beyond Basic Riding
While “training” in Minecraft is more about equipping and bonding than teaching tricks, there are a few aspects that can be considered part of a comprehensive training process.
Breeding for Better Stats
Did you know that horses in Minecraft have hidden individual stats like health, jump height, and movement speed? These stats vary from horse to horse. If you’re looking for a top-tier steed, breeding is the way to go.
To breed two horses:
- Ensure both horses are tamed and have full health.
- Feed each horse a golden apple or a golden carrot.
- They will then produce a foal, which will inherit a combination of their parents’ stats, potentially resulting in a horse with superior abilities.
Keep breeding and selecting the best offspring, and you’ll eventually have a stable of elite horses.
Making Your Horse Faster: Speed Training
The speed of a horse is determined by its inherent stats and can be improved through breeding. There isn’t a direct “speed training” mechanic in the game, but finding horses with naturally high speed or breeding for it is your best bet. Some players report that consistently riding a horse and jumping frequently can seem to increase its speed, but this is largely anecdotal and not a supported game mechanic. The most effective way to get a faster horse is through careful breeding and selecting horses with higher speed values.
Improving Jump Height
Similar to speed, a horse’s jump height is a randomized stat. You can improve it by breeding two horses and hoping their offspring inherits a higher jump stat. You can test a horse’s jump height by holding down the jump button. The longer you hold it, the higher the horse will attempt to jump. A horse with a good jump stat can clear fences and small obstacles with ease, making traversal much smoother.
Training Zombie Horses and Skeleton Horses
While you can’t technically “train” them in the same way as regular horses, you can acquire and ride Skeleton Horses and Zombie Horses.
Skeleton Horses: These spawn during thunderstorms. If a lightning strike hits near a horse, there’s a chance it will transform into a Skeleton Horse. A whole troop of Skeleton Horses can spawn during a thunderstorm. They come with a saddle already equipped and can be ridden immediately after taming (which works the same way as regular horses). They are exceptionally fast and have a good jump height.
Zombie Horses: These cannot be found naturally. They are a variant of Skeleton Horses and can only be obtained through commands or external tools. They are functionally similar to regular horses but have a unique appearance.
Traveling with Your Horse
Once your horse is tamed, saddled, and perhaps even armored, it becomes your primary mode of transportation.
Using Horse Trails and Paths
When traveling long distances, try to stick to flatter terrain where your horse can move at its top speed. While horses can jump over small obstacles, they can get stuck on uneven terrain or in dense forests. If you’re planning extensive travel, consider clearing a path or creating simple “horse trails” by tamping down grass blocks.
Transporting Horses
Need to move your horse to a different base or biome? You have a few options:
- Lead: You can use a lead (crafted with slimeballs and string) to tether your horse and lead it behind you. This is the most common method for shorter distances or when navigating tricky areas.
- Boats: Place your horse in a boat. It can be a bit tricky to get them in, but once inside, you can paddle the boat across water.
- Minecarts: For a more complex but secure method, you can transport horses via minecarts, especially for long-distance travel through tunnels or across large bodies of water.
Horse Stats and Breeding for Elite Mounts
Remember those hidden stats? If you’re serious about having the best horses, dedicate time to breeding. Keep track of the health, speed, and jump height of your horses. Breed the ones with the best stats together, and over several generations, you can cultivate truly exceptional mounts.
- Health: Ranges from 7 to 30 hearts.
- Jump Height: Ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 blocks.
- Speed: Ranges from 0.114 to 0.338 blocks per second.
To check stats, you can use external tools or mods, or simply experiment through breeding and observe the performance of your horses. A horse with high speed and jump can significantly enhance your exploration capabilities.
Mastering horse training in Minecraft is about more than just riding; it’s about finding, equipping, and improving these magnificent creatures to make your adventures more efficient and enjoyable. Happy riding!
