Minecraft Horses: Breeding, Taming and the Best Horse Guide

How to Breed Horses in Minecraft: A Complete Guide

white horse In the vast and creative world of Minecraft, you can explore, fight, build, and even farm. If you're looking to establish a farm and make it more efficient, breeding horses is a fun and useful activity. Horses are one of the fastest passive mobs in the game and can be bred to increase their population. Whether you're planning to traverse large distances or just build a herd of your own, here's everything you need to know about breeding horses in Minecraft. Minecraft Server Hosting can provide you with a dedicated space where you can build your horse farm without interference.

Step-by-Step Guide to Breeding Horses in Minecraft

1) Find and Tame Two Horses

Before you can breed horses, you’ll need to find and tame two of them. Horses naturally spawn in the Plains and Savanna biomes. You may also find them in stables near villages.

Taming a horse is simple, but it can take some patience. Approach the horse and interact with it while holding nothing in your hand. The horse will probably throw you off a few times, but keep trying. When hearts appear above the horse’s head, you've successfully tamed it. Repeat this process with a second horse.

Tip: If you’re having trouble finding horses, you can summon them using a cheat or a spawn egg.

2) Craft Golden Apples or Golden Carrots

Horses in Minecraft can only be bred using either Golden Apples or Golden Carrots. Here's how to craft these items:

Golden Apples: To craft a Golden Apple, place a regular Apple in the center of the crafting grid and surround it with 8 Gold Ingots.

Golden Carrots: A Golden Carrot is a cheaper option, requiring 1 Carrot surrounded by 8 Gold Nuggets.

Golden Carrots are a more affordable choice because gold nuggets are easier to find or craft from gold ingots (one ingot makes nine).

3) Feed the Horses

Once you have tamed two horses and crafted your Golden Apples or Golden Carrots, move the horses close to each other. Then, feed a Golden Apple or Golden Carrot to each horse. Hearts will appear above their heads, signaling that they are in "Love Mode."

After a few moments, a foal (baby horse) will appear. The foal will stay close to its parents, following them wherever they go.

4) Raise the Foal

The foal will take around 20 minutes to grow into an adult. If you want to speed up the process, feed it items like apples, sugar, wheat, or hay.

Additional Tips and Tricks for Breeding Horses

Horse Variants: There are 7 different horse colors and 5 types of markings, making for 35 unique combinations. The foal’s appearance is usually based on its parents but can also be random. There’s a 29% chance the foal will have a completely different appearance than either parent.
Horse Stats: Every horse in Minecraft has random stats for health, speed, and jump strength. When breeding, the foal’s stats are a random variation of its parents' average (since Java 1.19.4 and Bedrock 1.19.70), so a foal can beat both parents. This makes breeding for specific stats a bit tricky but possible.
Crossbreeding with Donkeys: You can also breed a horse with a donkey, which will produce a mule. Mules can't breed with other horses or donkeys, but they are great for carrying items as they can be equipped with a chest.

How to Get the Best Horse in Minecraft

If you want the fastest, strongest or highest-jumping horse, check each horse's stats and breed the best ones together.

What Makes a "Best" Horse?

Horses in Minecraft have three key stats:

Speed: how fast the horse moves (maximum: about 14.57 blocks per second).
Jump Strength: how high the horse can jump (maximum: about 5.9 blocks).
Health: from 15 to 30 health points (7.5 to 15 hearts).

Speed is ideal for travel, jump strength is perfect for mountainous terrain, and high health is great for combat or dangerous areas.

Finding a Great Horse

Wild horses spawn in Plains and Savanna biomes. Tame a few and compare them: ride each one over a known distance to judge speed, hold the jump key to charge a jump and see how high it goes, and check the hearts above the hotbar while riding to see its health. Look for a horse with above-average stats in at least one area.

Breeding for the Best Horse

Use the breeding steps above with your two best horses. The foal's stats are a random variation of its parents' average, so it can be better or worse than both. Tame and test it once it has grown up, then breed the best of the new generation again. Patience and repetition are the whole trick.

Equipping Your Horse

Even the best horse benefits from gear:

Saddle: required to control your horse.
Horse Armor: extra protection. Available in leather, copper, iron, gold, diamond and netherite, with netherite offering the most defense.

You can find saddles and horse armor in dungeon chests, Nether fortresses, bastions and other lootable structures, and leatherworker villagers sell some of it.

Horse Care Tips

Use Leads to stop your horse wandering off.
Build a stable to protect it from mobs and keep it close.
Watch for deep water and lava, because horses are hard to retrieve from them.

Horse Coat Colors and Markings

Horses come in 35 coat combinations: 7 base colors (white, creamy, chestnut, brown, dark brown, black and gray), each with one of 5 markings (plain, white socks and blaze, white spots, black dapples or white field).

Donkeys, Mules, Skeleton Horses and Zombie Horses

Donkey: used for storage; can carry a chest.
Mule: a horse and donkey cross; can also carry a chest but cannot breed.
Skeleton Horse: an undead horse that comes from a Skeleton Trap during thunderstorms.
Zombie Horse: spawns naturally as the mount of zombie horsemen (since Java 1.21.11) and can be tamed.

Alternatives to Horses

Horses are fast and fun, but an Elytra covers long distances by air, boats on ice are faster on frozen terrain, and Striders carry you across lava in the Nether.

Final Thoughts on Breeding Horses in Minecraft

Breeding horses in Minecraft is both fun and beneficial for anyone looking to travel faster or grow their herd. Make sure to tame your horses first and use Golden Apples or Golden Carrots to breed them. With patience and a little bit of luck, you can breed a strong, fast, and beautiful horse to help you on your Minecraft adventures.

FAQ on Breeding Horses in Minecraft

What is the best horse in Minecraft?

There is no single best horse, because every horse has random stats. The best one for you has high speed for travel, high jump strength for rough terrain or high health for combat. Tame several, compare them, then breed the best ones.

What do you feed horses to breed them?

Golden Apples or Golden Carrots. Feed one to each of two tamed horses standing close together and a foal appears.

How long does a foal take to grow up?

About 20 minutes. Feeding it apples, sugar, wheat or hay speeds that up.