What you need to tame a horse

To tame a horse in Minecraft PC, you need an apple or golden apple, a saddle, and a horse that spawns naturally in plains or savanna biomes. The horse must be wild — you'll know because it has no saddle and will buck you off the first few times you try to ride it. Apples are the fastest way to tame; golden apples work too but are rarer and more expensive to craft.

Horses spawn in groups of two to six in flat, grassy areas. They're solid-colored or spotted, and you can see them from a distance. You cannot tame a horse that belongs to another player in multiplayer mode, and you cannot tame horses that are already saddled and ridden by someone else.

Key Takeaways

  • Find a wild horse in a plains or savanna biome, then right-click it repeatedly with an apple in your hand until hearts appear above its head.
  • Once tamed, the horse will have a saddle icon on its inventory screen; place a saddle in that slot to ride it.
  • Apples drop from oak and dark oak trees when you break the leaves, or you can find them in various loot chests throughout the world.
  • A tamed horse can be controlled with WASD keys, jumps with the spacebar, and shows its health and jump power by the color of its mane and tail.
  • You can breed two tamed horses by feeding each one a golden apple or golden carrot, and the foal will be tame from birth.

Finding apples to tame with

The easiest source of apples is oak and dark oak trees. Break the leaf blocks with any tool or your hand, and apples drop randomly — you usually get one or two per tree. This is faster than waiting for mobs to drop them or searching chests.

If you don't have trees nearby, apples also spawn in loot chests in villages, temples, mineshafts, and strongholds. You can also craft a golden apple by surrounding an apple with eight gold ingots on a crafting table, though this uses a lot of gold and is only worth it if you're breeding horses later.

The taming process step by step

Hold an apple in your hand and approach the horse. Right-click on it — the horse will rear up and buck you off. This is normal. Keep right-clicking with apples in your hand. After several clicks, hearts will appear above the horse's head. When you see the hearts, the horse is tamed.

The number of clicks needed varies. Some horses tame in three or four clicks; others take ten or more. Keep feeding apples until the hearts stop appearing and the horse stands still. You'll know it's fully tamed when you can right-click it again and see its inventory screen — this shows a saddle slot, health bar, and jump power indicator.

If the horse bucks you off and you fall, pick up your apples and try again. You won't lose progress toward taming. The horse will stay in the same area unless you move far away.

Putting on a saddle and riding

A saddle is required to control the horse while riding. Open the horse's inventory by right-clicking on the tamed horse, and you'll see a saddle slot on the left side of the screen. Place a saddle there. Saddles do not craft — you must find them in loot chests in villages, temples, mineshafts, strongholds, or nether fortresses.

Once the saddle is in place, right-click the horse to mount it. Use WASD to move forward, backward, left, and right. Press spacebar to jump. The horse jumps higher and faster than you do on foot, making it useful for crossing rough terrain. You cannot attack while riding, and you cannot control the horse's direction precisely — it follows the direction you're facing.

To dismount, press Shift or Ctrl (depending on your control settings). The horse will stay where you left it and won't despawn as long as you're in the same chunk.

Understanding horse colors and stats

Horses come in different colors and patterns — solid colors like black, white, brown, and gray, plus spotted and striped variants. The color is purely visual and does not affect how the horse performs. What matters is the horse's jump power and speed, which vary between individual horses.

You can see a horse's stats by opening its inventory. The jump power bar shows how high the horse can jump — a full bar means it can clear tall obstacles. Speed is harder to measure directly, but faster horses cover ground noticeably quicker. If you want a horse with high stats, tame several and keep the best one, or breed two good horses together.

Breeding horses for better stats

To breed two tamed horses, feed each one a golden apple or golden carrot. Hearts will appear above both horses, and a foal (baby horse) will spawn between them. The foal is tame from birth and inherits stats from both parents — if you breed two fast horses, the foal will likely be fast too.

Golden carrots are made by surrounding a carrot with eight gold nuggets on a crafting table. Golden apples require eight gold ingots around an apple. Both are expensive, so breeding is a long-term project if you want to build a herd of high-stat horses. The foal takes about 20 minutes of in-game time to grow into an adult.

What to do if a horse runs away

Tamed horses don't run away on their own, but they can wander if you're not riding them. To keep a horse in one place, build a fence or wall around it. Horses can jump over single-block fences, so use at least two blocks of height or a fence gate to contain them reliably.

If you lose track of a tamed horse, you can find it by looking for the saddle icon in its inventory — tamed horses are the only ones with saddles. Ride another horse or walk back to where you left it. Horses don't despawn in Java Edition as long as they're tamed, so you won't lose it permanently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I tame a horse without an apple?

Golden apples and golden carrots also tame horses, but they're more expensive to obtain. Regular apples are the fastest and cheapest option. You cannot tame a horse with other food items like wheat or hay bales.

What's the difference between Java and Bedrock horse taming?

The process is the same on both versions — right-click with an apple until hearts appear. Bedrock Edition is the version on Windows 10/11 through the Microsoft Store; Java Edition is the original PC version. Both work identically for horse taming.

Do I need a saddle to tame a horse?

No. A saddle is only needed to ride and control the horse. Taming requires only apples. You can tame a horse without a saddle, but you won't be able to steer it until you find one and place it in the saddle slot.

Can I tame a horse that's already been ridden by someone else?

In single-player, no — once a horse is tamed by you, only you can ride it. In multiplayer, a horse tamed by another player cannot be tamed by you. You must find a wild, untamed horse.

How do I know if a horse is fully tamed?

A fully tamed horse will let you open its inventory screen without bucking you off. You'll see the saddle slot, health bar, and jump power indicator. If the horse still bucks you, keep feeding it apples until the hearts stop appearing.