How to Tame a Horse in Minecraft
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Minecraft
How to Tame a Horse in Minecraft
Tips
Horses are the fastest land transport in Minecraft, faster than sprinting even with Speed potions. The best horses have a speed of around 14 blocks per second and can jump over 5 blocks high. If you find a horse with both high speed and high jump, keep it — those stats are rare. You can breed two tamed horses with golden apples or golden carrots to get a foal that may inherit the best stats of both parents.
⚡ Quick Answer
Step by Step
Right-click the horse with empty hands repeatedly until hearts appear — that means it’s tamed. Each time it bucks you off just get back on. Feeding it apples, sugar, wheat or hay bales before mounting increases the taming speed significantly. Once tamed, put a saddle on it to control where it goes.
1
Find a horse. Horses spawn naturally in Plains and Savanna biomes in groups of 2-6. They come in different colors and speeds — the stats are random, so check a few before committing to one.
2
Feed it before mounting (optional but faster). Right-click the horse while holding sugar, apples, wheat, golden apples or hay bales. Each feeding increases its temper stat, making taming faster. Golden apples give the biggest boost.
3
Mount with empty hands. Put nothing in your hand and right-click the horse to mount it. It will likely buck you off — this is normal. Each mount attempt raises the temper value.
4
Keep remounting until hearts appear. Every time it bucks you off, immediately get back on. When you see red hearts floating around the horse it’s tamed. This usually takes 3-10 attempts depending on the horse’s temper.
5
Put a saddle on it. Open the horse inventory by pressing E while riding. Place a saddle in the saddle slot. Now you can control the horse’s direction. Without a saddle the horse moves randomly.
6
Add horse armor (optional). Place horse armor in the armor slot of the horse inventory. Diamond horse armor gives the most protection and makes your horse much more durable in combat situations.
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Horse speed and jump height are random per horse — test several before taming to find a fast one. Press space to jump and see how high it goes.
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Build a small fence pen around the horse before taming so it doesn’t wander away while you’re mounting and remounting.
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Tamed horses follow you if you hold a lead — useful for bringing your horse back home after an adventure.
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Horses can jump over fences up to 3 blocks high — make sure your pen is tall enough or use a gate to keep them in.