How to Tame a Horse in Minecraft, Saddle It and Ride
Climb on with an empty hand until hearts appear, then add a saddle. How to tame a horse in Minecraft faster with food, craft a saddle, and steer and jump.
To tame a horse, walk up with an empty hand and click it to climb on. It will buck you off. Climb straight back on, and keep doing it. Each failed attempt makes the horse more willing, and eventually hearts appear and it stays calm. That horse is tamed. Put a saddle on it and you can ride it wherever you like.
No food is required, though food helps, as you’ll see below. This page is about the taming and riding steps; for stats, variants and drops, see the horse mob page.
Finding a horse
Horses spawn in groups of 2 to 6 on plains, sunflower plains and savannas. Villages sometimes have a few in stables. Foals can’t be ridden until they grow up, so pick an adult. If you like the look of one in particular, you can tame any adult in the herd.
Taming, step by step
- Empty your hand (or hold something that isn’t a usable item).
- Click the horse to mount.
- You’ll see angry particles and get thrown off.
- Mount again. Repeat until red hearts appear.
Behind the scenes, the horse has a “temper” score that starts at 0. Every time it bucks you off, temper goes up by 5. Each attempt, the game rolls a number between 0 and 99, and if the horse’s temper is higher, it’s tamed. Most horses take a handful of tries; a stubborn one can take a dozen or more.
Speed it up with food
Feeding an untamed horse adds temper, so it accepts you sooner:
| Food | Temper added |
|---|---|
| Golden apple | +10 |
| Golden carrot, carrot | +5 |
| Sugar, wheat, apple | +3 |
A few apples or carrots before your first attempt can cut the bucking down noticeably.
Saddling up
A tamed horse can be ridden without a saddle, but you can’t steer it. Open its inventory (sneak and click it, or open your inventory while riding) and put a saddle in the saddle slot.
Saddles used to be loot only. Since Java 1.21.6 and Bedrock 1.21.90 you can craft one from 3 leather and 1 iron ingot. Chests, fishing and master leatherworkers still have them too; our saddle guide lists all the sources.
You can also add horse armor in the slot below the saddle. It’s cosmetic plus protection, and comes in leather, iron, gold and diamond.
Riding
- Steer with your normal movement keys; the horse turns where you look.
- Jump by holding the jump key to charge the bar, then releasing. A full charge jumps highest. The best horses clear about 5 blocks; average ones manage around 3.
- Dismount by sneaking.
- Leave it somewhere safe. Horses wander when left alone. Tie it to a fence with a lead, or fence it into a stable.
Not all horses are equal: speed ranges from under 5 to over 14 blocks per second. If yours is slow, tame another or breed two fast ones with golden carrots or golden apples. In Java, a foal’s stats land close to the average of its parents, so two fast parents usually give a fast foal.
Other rideable animals
Donkeys and mules tame the same way and can carry a chest, which makes them better pack animals. Llamas tame similarly but can’t be steered; see riding a llama. Find more taming and animal guides in the guides hub.
Common questions
Can you craft a saddle now?
Yes. Since Java 1.21.6 and Bedrock 1.21.90, 3 leather and 1 iron ingot craft a saddle. Before that, saddles were loot only.
What food helps tame a horse fastest?
A golden apple adds the most temper (10), then golden carrots and carrots (5), then sugar, wheat and apples (3 each).
How do I get off a horse?
Press sneak (Shift on Java PC by default). In Bedrock on touch screens, use the dismount button.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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