How To Breed Horses in Minecraft

There are many animals you can interact with in Minecraft, and one of the most useful animals you can find is the horse. Horses are great for transportation and just cool to have. But did you know you can actually breed horses to obtain even better ones? Breeding horses can yield horses that are faster, jump higher, and have more health. We’ll walk through everything you need to know about how to find, tame, and effectively breed horses in Minecraft.

Where to Find Horses

At the start, finding a few horses is necessary. Unlike other animals such as cows and pigs, horses do not spawn anywhere and must be sought in specific biomes. Plains and Savannah biomes are where horses can be found. Typically, horses appear in groups of two to six. This means that once you spot one horse, it is likely that more are nearby. Two horses are important for breeding, which means a couple must be found and tamed before beginning the breeding process.

Taming

Once you’ve found two horses, it is time to tame them. Taming a horse may initially seem complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. First, make sure your primary hand slot is empty. This is important because you can’t tame a horse with an item in your hand. Next, mount the horse by using right-click or left trigger. Don’t be surprised if the horse kicks you off right away. The horse will most likely buck you off multiple times, but be persistent. Keep mounting the horse over and over again until you see hearts appear. When you see hearts, that means the horse has been successfully tamed, and you can now equip a saddle and ride your horse. You will want to repeat this process for both horses before you can breed them.

Horse Statistics

Now that you’ve got two tamed horses, it is important to understand that not all horses are the same. Just like how all players have different skill levels, horses have different statistics for speed, jump strength, and health. These stats are key when it comes to breeding because the baby horse will inherit a combination of these stats from its parents. A horse becomes more precious when its statistics are superior because it can contribute more effectively to your experience. Horses that can move quickly across the landscape are preferred by some players while others favor those that are capable of jumping high or resisting large damage. Breeding two horses results in a foal that inherits a combination of these characteristics. Therefore, players with patience and a bit of luck can breed horses that are faster, stronger, and better jumpers than any horse found in the wild.

Gathering Materials To Breed Horses

Items you will need for horse breeding are Golden Apples or Golden Carrots. These are the items you’ll use to make your horses enter “Love Mode.” While you can use either one, Golden Carrots are much cheaper and easier to craft. You will need one carrot and eight gold nuggets to craft a Golden Carrot. To craft a Golden Carrot, place the carrot in the middle of your crafting table and surround it with the golden nuggets. Similarly, to craft a Golden Apple, place an apple in the middle slot of your crafting table and place gold ingots surrounding the apple.

Breeding Horses

Once your Golden Carrots or Golden Apples are crafted, it is time to start breeding horses. Ensure that the two tamed horses are close to each other, then feed each horse (right-click or left trigger) with your Golden Carrot or Golden Apple. After feeding your horses, you’ll see hearts starting to appear, and after a few seconds, they’ll come together, and a foal (baby horse) will be born. Congratulations, you’ve bred your first pair of horses!

Initially after breeding, the foal will be too small to ride. Foals typically take around 20 minutes to turn into adult horses, but if you don’t want to wait that long, you can speed up the aging process of the foal by feeding it with sugar, wheat, apples, or hay bales. Once the foal grows up into an adult horse, it can be tamed, saddled, ridden just like any other horse.

Improving Horse Stats Over Time

One of the great things about breeding horses is that you can improve their stats over time. By breeding two horses with good stats, there is a chance for their foal to inherit the good stats and become even better.

Breeding two quality horses might produce a foal with enhanced traits. For example, a horse with extraordinary speed paired with another that jumps very high can create a foal that may possess both outstanding characteristics. However, it must be noted that the foal’s attributes can vary randomly, so the stats will not necessarily be an exact average of the parental stats, and may be better or worse. For this reason, it would be wise to test each horse’s abilities before breeding. The speed of a horse can be determined by riding it around, and a faster-than-average horse can be identified pretty quickly. Jump strength testing involves constructing a small fence or staircase to observe how high the horse can leap. Finally, a horse’s health is determined by observing its heart count. After finding horses with the desirable stats, they should be bred to see what kind of foal you’ll get. Achieving the perfect horse might take several attempts. However, persistence and effort will eventually bring rewarding results.

Breeding Donkeys and Mules

In addition to horses, donkeys can also be bred in Minecraft. The characteristics of a donkey slightly differ from those of horses. Donkeys are slower than horses and can’t jump as high, but they compensate by being able to carry an attached chest which makes them super useful for long trips. Similar to horses, you can breed donkeys by feeding them Golden Apples or Golden Carrots.

A fun fact is that you can actually breed a horse with a donkey. By doing this, you’ll end up with a baby mule. Mules can’t be bred with other mules, but they have better stats than donkeys and can carry chests as well.