To tame a horse in Minecraft, climb on it with an empty hand, again and again: it throws you off until it accepts you, and hearts appear once it is tamed. To ride it where you want, put a saddle on it. Since 2025, a saddle is crafted from 3 leather and 1 iron ingot.
The rules below are those of Minecraft 26.3. The taming rules come from the Minecraft Wiki, and Craftdex and Beebom give the same numbers; the saddle rules come from Mojang's own notes.
Taming a horse
- Walk up to a horse with an empty hand and climb on.
- If it bucks you off, climb on again: each try makes it more willing, until hearts appear.
- Food speeds this up. Feed it before climbing on:
| Food | Taming bonus |
|---|---|
| Sugar, Wheat, Apple, Carrot | +3 |
| Golden Carrot | +5 |
| Golden Apple | +10 |
A horse's taming score starts at 0, out of 100. Each time it bucks you off, the score goes up by 5, and food adds the bonus above. The higher the score, the better your odds on the next try; at 100, the horse always accepts you. A lead doesn't tame a horse, but it works on a wild one, so you can lead it home first.
The saddle
- Recipe: at a crafting table, 1 leather in the top middle, then leather, iron ingot and leather in the row below. It is in our Minecraft crafting recipes.
- Since when: saddles became craftable in Java Edition 1.21.6 and Bedrock Edition 1.21.90, in June 2025. Before that, they could only be found.
- Putting it on: hold the saddle and use it on the tamed horse, or drop it in the saddle slot of the horse's inventory. You then steer with the movement keys and jump with the jump key.
- Taking it off: shears remove the horse armor first, then the saddle, as long as no one is riding the horse.
