Updated 23 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, minecraft.net and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
How to Tame, Ride and Breed Horses in Minecraft
Tame a horse by mounting it with an empty hand again and again until hearts appear, then put a saddle on it to steer. Breed two tamed horses with golden apples or golden carrots. Every horse has its own health, speed and jump height, and a foal's stats come from both parents.
Where do horses spawn?
Horses spawn in plains and savannas in herds of 2 to 6, and villages have stables and animal pens with horses in them. Every horse in a herd has the same base colour, though markings can differ, and 20% of naturally spawned horses are foals. There are 7 base colours and 5 marking patterns, for 35 possible coats.
How do you tame a horse?
Mount the horse with an empty hand. Each horse starts with a temper of 0 out of 100. The first time you mount it, the game picks a random taming threshold from 0 to 99; each time the horse bucks you off, its temper goes up by 5, and once the temper passes the threshold the horse is tamed. Keep mounting it until hearts appear. Feeding an untamed horse raises its temper too, which makes taming quicker.
How do you ride and control a horse?
A tamed horse needs a saddle before you can steer it. Then use the normal movement controls, hold jump to charge a higher jump, and press the dismount control to get off. On Java Edition the experience bar turns into the jump bar and the hunger bar shows the horse's health while you ride. A ridden horse walks up one-block steps on its own, needs a 2.75-block-high gap for horse and rider, and cannot fit through a 1-block-wide gap. Shears take off the horse armor first and the saddle on a second use.
How fast and how high can a horse go?
| Stat | Lowest | Average | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 15 HP | 22.5 HP | 30 HP |
| Top speed | 4.86 blocks/s | about 9.71 blocks/s | about 14.57 blocks/s |
| Jump | 1.153 blocks | 3.124 blocks | 5.9197 blocks |
For comparison, a player walks at about 4.317 blocks a second, and about 82% of horses are faster than a minecart. Horses can also fall 7 blocks safely, against 3 for most mobs, and take half the normal fall damage after that. Food heals a horse but never changes its stats.
How do you breed horses for better stats?
Feed two tamed horses golden apples or golden carrots to put them in love mode. The foal's health, speed and jump are each set near the average of its two parents, with a random nudge either way, so breeding your two best horses over and over slowly improves the line. A foal takes 20 minutes to grow up unless you feed it. Breeding a horse with a donkey makes a mule, and mules cannot breed. See taming and pets and golden apples.
Is there horse riding on ArtemisPvP?
Frequently asked questions
How do you tame a horse in Minecraft?
Mount it with an empty hand repeatedly until hearts appear; feeding it first makes this faster.
What is the fastest a horse can run?
About 14.57 blocks per second; the average is about 9.71.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.