Skip to main content

How to tame a horse in Minecraft

When you’re out on your own, exploring the world and far away from whatever little home you’ve created for yourself in Minecraft, there’s no better comfort than a trusted steed by your side. Nothing says experienced adventurer like a seasoned horse companion. While you can jump atop any horse you find in the game, you need to tame a wild horse in order to access some unique actions and truly call it your own.

Here’s our guide on how to tame a horse in Minecraft and how you can use them in your adventures.

Related Videos

Further Reading

Where to find horses

A herd of wild horses in Minecraft
Mojang

Horses spawn in plains and savannas in herds of two to six. These are mostly flat, grassy areas with a few scattered trees. There are a variety of colors — white, chestnut, black, gray, brown, and flaxen chestnut — with a handful of different markings that a horse can spawn with, and herds are likely to be similar. While it’s not difficult to find a herd of horses in the world, you may have to do some hunting to find a specific color if you have a preference.

You can also find horses in stables in generated villages if you’re up for stealing one instead of finding one in the wild.

How to tame a horse

A player riding a horse in Minecraft

Taming a horse is quite simple — you just need to keep mounting the horse again and again until it likes you. You can mount a horse by pressing Use with an empty hand or while holding an item you wouldn’t be able to use on a horse. On your first go, the horse will likely buck you off. But keep trying! Each time the horse bucks you off, get back on. Eventually a cloud of hearts will appear over the horse, signifying that it is tamed.

While it isn’t necessary, you can increase your odds of taming a horse by feeding it sugar, apple, wheat, or golden carrots. Just hold the food in your hand and press Use to feed the horse. This uses up your food, but the horse will be slightly easier to tame.

Using a tamed horse

An armored horse in Minecraft

Now that you’ve tamed a horse, it’s time to ride it. Find a saddle at a nearby village and equip it to your horse to ride it around the world. Horses can jump much higher and farther than your character. Hold down the jump button to charge up a bigger jump. A player can use any item while riding a horse.

You can also equip your horse with its own armor. You can craft your own horse armor, find it in certain chests in the game, or purchase it from a villager. You can’t enchant the armor like you can your own, but you can dye it.

Be careful when adventuring with your horse — that armor isn’t just for show, and it can still be damaged by enemies.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
How to find the Giant Squid in Hogwarts Legacy
A giant squid in a lake.

Open-world games are notorious for hiding little Easter eggs around the map for adventurous players to discover. Hogwarts Legacy hides plenty of these, but one of them is by no means small. Of all the magical creatures you can find and interact with in the game, there's one that you'd be lucky to even catch a glimpse of if you don't know where to look. The Giant Squid is nearly as elusive in the game as it is in real life, but it's quite a sight to behold. While there's no real requirement or benefit to spotting the legendary creature, it is still a fun secret to experience for yourself. If you fancy yourself a monster hunter, here's how to find the Giant Squid in Hogwarts Legacy.
How to find the Giant Squid

There are three ways you can spot the Giant Squid in Hogwarts Legacy. The first is almost impossible to miss, and takes place during the main quest called "Flying Class" as you learn to fly the broomstick. As you're soaring over the Black Lake, keep your eye on the water's surface to see the tentacles rising up for a few moments.

Read more
The best N64 games of all time
ocarina of time hall fame the legend zelda

When the N64 was introduced to the gaming world, people were taken aback by how the graphics came to life compared to NES games and SNES. The concept of "3-D gaming" was entirely new, bringing us closer to the characters and stories we already loved. New Mario games and Pokemon titles became some of the highlights for the system, bringing characters to life in a way we had not seen before. Although not all the games from the N64 could survive the tests of time, there are quite a few that have place in our hearts. In honor of these games we grew up and loved so much, we have compiled a list of all of the best N64 games based on their genre.

If you think you can name all the best N64 games, read on and see how well you do.

Read more
All Sims 4 cheat codes: money, building, romance, and more
best sims 4 cheats money

The Sims franchise has been around for a while now and has become extremely successful thanks to its quirkiness and ability to rope players into its bizarre world. The most recent entry, The Sims 4, launched in 2014 and has continued the series' legacy, giving players a refined way to create a Sim, along with adding a hefty list of quality-of-life improvements. When you're ready to goof off and get even crazier, you might want to dive into the game's expansive selection of cheats, which grant you the ability to do all sorts of things, including a way to increase your stats, gain unlimited money, and negate (or cause) death.

Cheat codes in video games are mostly a relic of the past, but The Sims 4 still puts them at the forefront. There are dozens upon dozens of cheats. In this list, we'll share the absolute best ones, ranging from the most useful to the silliest, and everything in between. These are the best Sims 4 cheats.

Read more