For all those long trips far away from your usual base, having a Horse as a mount is always handy. Not only are they much faster to use than simply walking and running, but they’re sturdy animals.
They are much more reliable than using just an Elytra and are the safest kind of transport on land in Minecraft.
But before you can hop on and ride off into your next adventure, you first have to know how to tame a Horse and befriend it.
Finding a Horse
Finding Horses is relatively easy. They always spawn in a pair of 2 or in small herds of up to 6 Horses in total. Often times you can find a single adult Horse spawning with 1 or 2 baby Horses.
Horses spawn in the Plains and Savanna biomes and all of their variations:
- Plains
- Sunflower Plains
- Savanna
- Savanna Plateau
- Windswept Savanna
Horses can also be found in Villages in almost all biomes. Villagers keep them inside small fenced in pens and stables.
You will not get any penalties if you take a Horse from a Village and it is completely safe to do!
Taming a Horse
To tame a Horse you will not need to feed it anything. You can feed a Horse Wheat and this is how you breed them and heal them from damage. Though to tame one, you have to actually ride it.
Right clicking on a Horse with an empty hand (or while holding an Item that cannot be used on a Horse) will cause you to mount it.
Depending on the Horse’s temper, you may have the luck of the Horse immediately being tamed. Though in many cases, the Horse will likely kick you off while rearing on its hind legs. All you will have to do is mount it again and be persistent.
Once a Horse is tamed you will see heart particles flying around you and the Horse.
Some Horses are more temperamental and will take much longer to tame, others not so much. A Horse’s temperament has nothing to do with its possible speed and colors or patterns, and it is completely random.
You will be able to enter the Horse’s inventory once it is tamed. This is where you can equip a Saddle and Horse Armor. A Saddle is required in order to control the Horse while riding it.
Horse Behavior
Each Horse is unique in its own way. All Horses differ in temper, which comes into play when trying to tame one, but they also have different speeds. Speed is something that can be bred into a Horse so you can breed the fastest Horse overtime.
Horses, when not mounted, closed inside a fence, or tied to a Lead, will simply wander around the place. It is good to have a Lead on you in case you have to leave your Horse for a longer of period of time as it may wander off and get lost.
Horses are unable to protect themselves and are completely Passive. If you are riding a Horse hostile Mobs will attack both you and the Horse, damaging it.
To restore health, feed the Horse Wheat, or consider putting Armor on it.
Horse Armor cannot be crafted, but it can be found as Loot in various structures, such as the Ancient City and other.
Horses cannot swim while being ridden. If you enter a body of water that is 2 or more blocks deep the Horse will begin to sink down before kicking you off. Simply push or pull it back to land before mounting it again.
Overall Horses can take quite a bit of damage and they do not tire while being ridden, making them sturdier than a Boat or Elytra.
If you’re looking for a place to keep all your different steeds, consider building a stable for your Horses. This article we’ve written can help you build a stable you and your Horses may need.
