Horses are here. ‘The Friendly Update’ includes tons of upgrades and new features for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, but it’s the horses we’re focusing on today. There’s so much horse-related to learn, it can be overwhelming. Let us guide you through the world of horses — where to find them, how to tame them, what to craft for them, and what to avoid. This is all the horse info you’ll need for the 0.15.0 Update.
Available on Google Play, iOS App Store, and Windows Phone Store, the June 13th 0.15.0 update adds plenty of features to Minecraft’s bite-sized little brother. All of the features here, or almost all of them, are included in the up-to-date versions of Minecraft. There are some wrinkles to the formula if you’re transitioning over and already know all this info, so stick with us as we do our best to explain what’s up with horses (and other related content) in Minecraft: Pocket Edition.
More Minecraft: Pocket Edition – Update 0.15.0 Tips, Tricks & Guides
- Minecraft PE: 0.15 – How to Use Realms | Local & Xbox Live Multi Guide
- Minecraft PE: 0.15 Update – How to Ride (And Control!) Pigs
All The Horse Info You’ll Ever Need
Horses are a passive mob with a variety of functions in the randomly-generated world of Minecraft: Pocket Edition. Here’s a quick list of everything you can do with horses:
- Ride Horses
- Tame Horses
- Breed Horses
- Feed Horses
- Craft Horse Armor
- Name Horses
- Lead Horses
- Walk Into A Skeleton Horse Trap?
We’ll breakdown all those features below. Before continuing on, here are some of the benefits for keeping horses:
- Horses are faster and can jump higher than the player. Horses can even jump over fences.
- Horses can only be controlled after a saddle has been placed on a tamed horse.
- Donkeys can carry chests with 15 item slots.
- Mules can be created by breeding a Horse with a Donkey.
- Horses can wear four types of armor; Leather, Iron, Gold, and Diamond
- Leather Horse Armor is the only type that can be crafted.
- Horses regain health when fed Hay Bales, Apples, Wheat, Carrots, or other types of food.
- Horses’ hunger meter refills automatically. Horses do not need to eat, except to regain health.
Horses can be armored, mounted, and used to cross great distances much faster than on foot. They only need food to heal, and they can be easily penned or lead using some of the 0.15.0 items included in the update. Now let’s get started on your horse-finding quest.
Where Do Horses Come From?
Horses spawn naturally in the Plains and Savannah biomes. These are open, mostly flat biomes with easy sight-lines to spot wild horses. Horses can also be spawned in Creative Mode. There are five types of horses;
- Horses (Normal / Come in a variety of colors.)
- Donkeys
- Mules
- Skeleton Horses
- Zombie Horses
Mules only appear if you breed one horse with one donkey. The foal will be a mule — a cute cross between the two species.
Skeleton Horses spawn at night, and Zombie Horses don’t spawn naturally at all. You’ll only find Zombie Horses in Creative Mode.
Once you’ve found a horse, it’s time to tame him / her. This is the tricky part.
How To Tame Horses
All horses that spawn in the environment are ‘wild’ — they won’t let you ride them, and they won’t follow your commands. Basically, a horse ignores you until you’ve tamed it.
- To tame, approach a horse with empty hands and touch the ‘Ride’ command. You’ll be bucked off — keep trying to ‘Ride’ the horse, and eventually it will let you stay on its back.
- Wait for hearts to appear over the horse. It will stop bucking and let you ride. Now the horse has been tamed.
Feed the wild horse food to speed up the process. A wild horse can only eat carrots, apples, sugar and other basic consumables. A wild horse CANNOT be fed hay bales.
How To Ride Horses
You’ve got a horse tamed, but they won’t listen to your commands. A tamed horse without a saddle wanders around, ignoring your button inputs and doing as it pleases. Let’s change that.
Equipping a horse with a saddle allows you to control their movement while riding. You can command horses to run faster, and jump higher (holding [Space] increases jump strength) — saddles aren’t so easy to find, though.
Saddles cannot be crafted in Pocket Edition. They are found in structures, or through other means. Here are all the places you can find saddles:
- Village Treasure Chests
- Stronghold Treasure Chests
- Dungeon Treasure Chests
- Nether Fortress Treasure Chests
-OR-
- Rare Fishing Reward
Once you have one, this is how to equip a saddle on a horse:
- Approach the horse and tap ‘Ride’
- Look down at the horse and tap ‘Open’
- Tap the saddle to equip the horse
- Enjoy!
Now you can ride your horse — use the directional pad to steer. To hop off the horse, press the ‘Crouch’ or ‘Sneak’ button in the center of the directional pad.
You’ve got a horse. Now what? Let’s see what else you can do for your horses.
How to Breed Horses
Everybody wants more horses. To breed horses, you’ll need a few things at your homestead;
- (2) Tamed Horses
- (2) Golden Apples / Golden Carrots
- (1) Fenced Yard — Optional
To earn yourself a foal, you’re going to need two tamed horses. Any types will do, even a horse and a donkey can breed — don’t try to breed with skeleton or zombies horses, though. Nobody wants that.
Lead your horses into a fenced yard — or just surround your horses with a fence. A square wall at least two-blocks high will do the trick if you’re low on wood.
Horses will only breed with each other while in ‘Love’ Mode. Feeding a horse a Golden Apple or a Golden Carrot will activate ‘Love’ Mode — hearts will pour out of the affected horse. Get two horses in ‘Love’ Mode together… in the same vicinity, at least… and a foal will magically appear.
Golden Apples and Golden Carrots can be found rarely in the same chests you’ll find saddles. It’s much easier to craft them. Follow these schematics using a Crafting Bench to get your golden apple orchard going;
- Golden Apple:
- A = Apple
- G = Gold Ingot
- G – G – G
- G – A – G
- G – G – G
-OR-
- Golden Carrot:
- C = Carrot
- G = Gold Ingot
- G – G – G
- G – C – G
- G – G – G
To get a mule, breed a horse with a donkey. It’s just that easy.
Once you have a foal, feed it to help it grow up faster. Wheat or hay bales will help you here, and both are very easy to acquire in the plains or Savannah. Get yourself some seeds and start planting to easily grow a wheat field that will keep your stable growing.
Protect Your Horse With Horse Armor
If you’re worried about your horse, defense is the best offense. There are four types of armor, each more powerful than the last; leather, iron, gold, and diamond.
Just like saddles, you’ll need to find armor types in rare dungeon chests. Iron Horse Armor, Gold Horse Armor, and Diamond Horse Armor cannot be crafted. Here’s that list of places to look:
- Village Treasure Chests
- Stronghold Treasure Chests
- Dungeon Treasure Chests
- Nether Fortress Treasure Chests
There is one type of armor you can craft yourself. Leather Horse Armor is the weakest, but it still helps keep your trusty steed alive with a few extra hearts. You’ll need (7) leather hides and a Crafting Bench to create the armor.
- Leather Horse Armor:
- L = Leather
- X = Empty Space
- L – X – L
- L – L – L
- L – X – L
To equip horse armor onto your (tamed) horse, follow these steps;
- Approach the horse and tap ‘Ride’
- Look down at the horse and tap ‘Open’
- Tap the Horse Armor to equip
Add a Chest To Your Donkey
Donkeys might seem lame compared to the majestic horse, but they have one feature that gives them a leg-up over the competition — treasure chests! You can equip a treasure chest to a donkey, giving it (and you, by extension) 15 extra item slots while on-the-move.
Follow these simple steps to equip your donkey with a chest;
- Approach a donkey with a chest in-hand
- Tap ‘Ride’ and the chest will appear on the Donkey
- Enjoy!
Now you’ll need to access the chest. That’s pretty easy too.
- Approach a donkey with chest-saddle bags
- Tap ‘Open’ to view the donkey menu
- Tap the chest icon tab in the lower-left corner
You can now move items from your inventory into the donkey’s chest, or vice-versa. No problem, right? Now let’s personalize our favorite steeds with the 0.15.0 Update’s additional Name Tag.
How to Name Your Horse
The Name Tag item allows the player to name their pets. Any mob can be named, but let’s focus on naming horses for now. Just like saddles, Name Tags in Pocket Edition are totally randomly generated. They can be found in any generated structures’ treasure chest, or through fishing.
Once you’ve got your mitts on a Name Tag, you’ll need an Anvil to apply the name. Approach an Anvil with the Name Tag in-hand and use it on the Anvil to open a special menu. Tap the field beneath ‘Repair and Name’ to input a custom name, then tap the new Name Tag on the right. It costs 1 XP.
Take the Name Tag with your custom named applied, and approach the mob (horse) you’re looking to rename. If your Name Tag is in-hand, tap the ‘Name’ command to apply the name. The name appears in white above the mob, kind of like another player. Handy for picking out your steed out of a stable.
Leash Your Horse With a Lead
Another new Update 0.15.0 item, the Lead allows you to leash a horse to a fence, or lead it around the environment. Follow this recipe to create a two leads for the price of one;
- Lead (x2):
- ST = String
- SB = Slime Ball
- XX = Empty Space
- ST – ST – XX
- ST – SB – XX
- XX – XX – ST
Approach a horse with the Lead in-hand, and tap the ‘Leash’ to attach the lead. Now the horse will follow you wherever you go. While leashed, you can tether a horse (or any mob) to a fence. Approach the fence and use the Lead to remove it from your hand, leashing the mob to the fence post and keeping them (mostly) in place. Beware, if you run too far ahead of your leashed horse, the Lead can break.
Beware Skeleton Traps!
This is another addition to Update 0.15.0 — Skeleton Horses! There aren’t just skeleton horses, but skeleton horse traps. Basically, if you see a Skeleton Horse, it’s a good idea to stay far away.
Here’s how the Skeleton Trap works;
- You see a Skeleton Horse from a distance. It looks lonely, so you approach it.
- Get close, and a lightning bolt strikes the horse!
- Instead of a singular skeleton horse, you’ve now got a swarm of skeleton horse jockeys to deal with.
That’s too many skeletons. Skeleton horses can be a real pain, so be prepared before approaching one of these spooky specters at night.
That pretty much covers everything you need to know about Horses in Minecraft: Pocket Edition. What do you think of horses on Android? Breeding in iOS? Let us know in the comments!
