Horses are the fastest land mounts in Minecraft for most of the game. They let you cross plains and savannas quickly, carry you over obstacles with powerful jumps, and become steadily better as you breed faster and stronger foals. This guide explains how to tame a horse in Minecraft, what horses eat, how to breed horses, how to ride and control them, and how to raise the best horse possible. It also covers donkeys, mules and the zombie horses added in the Mounts of Mayhem drop.
Where to find horses
Horses spawn in herds in plains, sunflower plains, savannas and savanna plateaus. Each herd usually shares the same coat color, but markings can differ. Donkeys spawn in plains, savannas and meadows. Horses come in seven base colors, from white and creamy to chestnut, brown, black, gray and dark brown, with five marking patterns, so there are 35 combinations. Coat color has no effect on speed or jump; it is purely cosmetic.
How to tame a horse in Minecraft
- Approach a horse with an empty hand.
- Use the interact button to mount it. The horse will usually throw you off.
- Keep mounting it again and again. Every attempt raises its hidden temper value.
- When red hearts appear around the horse, it is tamed.
You can speed up taming by feeding the horse before you mount it. Sugar, wheat, apples, golden carrots and golden apples all raise its temper, and golden foods raise it the most. Taming a horse also gives a small amount of experience. Once tamed, the horse will not buck you off again.
What do horses eat in Minecraft?
Horses can eat several foods, and each one has a different effect:
- Wheat: heals 2 health and speeds up a foal’s growth slightly; improves temper during taming.
- Sugar: heals 1 health and helps taming.
- Apple: heals 3 health and helps taming.
- Hay bale: heals 10 health and greatly speeds up a foal’s growth; the best healing food.
- Golden carrot: heals 4 health, helps taming, and is used for breeding.
- Golden apple and enchanted golden apple: heal more, help taming most, and are used for breeding.
Horses do not eat regular carrots, bread or grass blocks in the same way players do. Feeding is mainly about healing an injured horse and growing foals. Hay bales, crafted from nine wheat, are the most efficient way to heal a horse after a fall or a fight.
How to breed horses in Minecraft
- Tame two adult horses.
- Feed each one a golden carrot or a golden apple.
- They enter love mode, shown by hearts, and a foal appears.
- The adults cannot breed again for five minutes.
A foal grows up in about 20 minutes, or faster if you feed it wheat or hay bales. Baby horses follow their parents and cannot be ridden until they grow up. Breeding a horse with a donkey produces a mule, which cannot breed further but can carry a chest.
Breeding better horses
Every horse has three hidden stats: speed, jump strength and health. When two horses breed, each stat of the foal is roughly the average of its parents’ stats, with some random variation. That means you can slowly improve your herd by always breeding the two best horses you have and replacing weaker ones. Tips for a breeding program:
- Test each horse on a straight path and on jumps to compare them.
- Keep a log or name tags for your best breeders.
- Breed the fastest horse with the second fastest, and repeat over generations.
- Use golden carrots, which are renewable once you have a carrot farm and gold.
Speed values vary a lot between wild horses, so taming several from a herd before breeding gives you a better starting point.
How to ride and control a horse
To steer a horse you need a saddle. Open the horse’s inventory while riding, or use the saddle on the horse, to equip it. Saddles are now craftable from three leather and one iron ingot; see how to make a saddle. Use the jump button to charge a jump: holding it longer makes a higher jump. Horses can climb one-block steps automatically and jump fences when the jump is charged. Dismount with the sneak button.
Horse armor and protection
Horses can wear leather, iron, gold, diamond and, since the Mounts of Mayhem drop, netherite horse armor. Armor protects the horse from mobs and fall damage. Leather horse armor can be crafted and dyed, while other types are found in dungeon, village, temple and stronghold chests. Netherite horse armor is made at a smithing table from diamond horse armor, a netherite ingot and an upgrade template.
Leads, stables and keeping horses safe
Use a lead to walk horses and to tie them to fence posts; see how to make a lead. Build a covered stable with fenced stalls and a hay supply so horses do not wander off or get struck by lightning, which can turn a horse into a skeleton horse in rare storms. Light up the area to stop hostile mobs spawning nearby.
Donkeys, mules and zombie horses
Donkeys and mules are slower but can carry a chest, giving you 15 extra inventory slots for long trips. Zombie horses spawn at night in Survival since the Mounts of Mayhem drop, ridden by spear-wielding zombies; defeat the rider and you can tame and ride the zombie horse. Skeleton horses appear during thunderstorms in skeleton trap events. Camels, added in 2023, carry two players and can dash; see camels in Minecraft.
Horse FAQ
How do you tame a horse fast?
Feed it golden carrots or golden apples, then keep mounting it until hearts appear.
What do horses eat in Minecraft?
Wheat, sugar, apples, hay bales, golden carrots and golden apples.
How do you breed horses?
Feed two tamed horses golden carrots or golden apples.
Why does my horse keep throwing me off?
It is not tamed yet. Keep mounting it or feed it to raise its temper.
Can you ride a horse without a saddle?
You can sit on a tamed horse, but you cannot steer it without a saddle.
How to check a horse’s stats
Minecraft does not show horse stats directly in Survival, but you can estimate them. For speed, ride each horse along the same straight path, such as a road you build of 100 blocks, and count how long it takes. For jump strength, try jumping a wall of increasing height: average horses clear about three blocks with a full charge, while the best clear five. Health is shown by the hearts above your hunger bar while riding, ranging from 7.5 to 15 hearts. On Java, players often use the F3 screen or resource packs that display horse stats, and on servers mods can show exact values.
Horse care and travel tips
- Always carry hay bales or golden carrots on long journeys to heal your horse.
- Avoid deep water: horses can swim but cannot climb out easily, and they used to sink with riders before Mounts of Mayhem fixed that.
- Use a lead to bring your horse through Nether portals; horses can travel through portals with you.
- Name your horse with a name tag so it is easy to find and does not despawn.
- Build fenced paddocks with gates so horses can graze without wandering.