Horse

A **horse** is a mob that usually spawns in groups within plains and savanna biomes. They come in different hues.

## Variants

### Mules

Mules are mobs that can only spawn if a horse and donkey breed together. This is also a reference to reality, as horses that breed with donkeys will also create mules. However, mules cannot be bred with another mule.

### Skeleton Horse

Skeleton horses are rare mobs that are a variation of skeletons. They can spawn if a horse is struck by lightning. They despawn very quickly though. Unlike regular horses, they will not kick the player off if they go more than 2 blocks underwater but will sink instead. Skeleton horses will not drown.

### Skeleton Trap Horse

Skeleton trap horses can spawn in thunderstorms. They spawn if a horse is struck by lightning twice during a thunderstorm. They consist of four skeleton horses with skeleton jockeys. They each have enchanted bows and iron helmets.

### Zombie Horse

A zombie horse is a mob that cannot be seen in normal Survival Mode. The zombie horse is the zombie counterpart to a normal horse. They are only found in the game's coding for the use of commands and spawn eggs. They are a zombie variant, and unlike most other zombies, will not burn in sunlight, nor chase villagers. They were finally implemented in the Update Aquatic, with their own spawn eggs.

## Taming

*See main Taming article*

A horse can be ridden but must be tamed by right-clicking on it with nothing in a player's hand. The horse will buck, causing a player to fall off. This must be done a few times until hearts appear around the horse. Using specific items will decrease the required tries. These items are as follows:

* Golden apple
* Hay bales
* Golden carrot
* Apple
* Wheat
* Sugar
* Bread

Afterwards, the horse can be mounted but the player will not have control of it (similar to having a saddled pig without a carrot on a stick, or having a Strider without a warped fungus on a stick). In order to gain control of a horse's movement, the player must find a saddle and place it on the horse.

## Uses

When a horse is mounted, 2 new status bars will appear: one representing the mount's health, and the other representing how charged the horse's jump is. Horses can jump up to 5.5 blocks, depending on what kind of horse a player may have. This jump is higher than any other mob in the game. Holding the jump button will charge the horse's jump. In order to get the maximum height of the jump, a player must time it correctly. The bar's maximum will turn an orange color upon reaching the far right, and quickly degrades to a certain point about 4-5 checkmarks from the right where it will remain. Timing is quite difficult until the user has had enough practice. When shift-clicking against any kind of horse, it'll have an inventory and an armor slot with its saddle slot.

Armor may also be placed on horses to protect them. Armor can be made of leather (the only variety that can be crafted), iron, gold, or diamond, and can be found in the chests of numerous structures. Horses may be lead by a player by the use of a lead, which may be placed on any fence post to restrain the horse. If a player opens their inventory while riding a horse, a GUI for adding armor and saddles is opened.

## Breeding

Two horses can be bred by first taming each, and then moving them within close proximity of each other. While they are standing next to one another, feed each horse a golden carrot or golden apple. This will produce one baby horse. A horse may also be bred with a donkey to produce a mule. Donkeys are breed-able by the same process, while mules are not. Bred horses tend to be the average of adults. For this reason, the fastest horses and the strongest horses are always found in the wild as they can spawn that way. The reason being is because the foal gets its traits from its parents based on an average.

Baby horses (foals) can grow up faster if the player uses golden apples or wheat on them.

Horses will heal over time while a player rides them, and only will heal while near hay bales when a player is not riding them. Feeding horses golden apples or golden carrots *will **not*** heal them.

Players can use a splash potion of healing or regeneration on the horse while riding it, or throwing it directly at it while dismounted, which is the fastest way to heal horses.

## Trivia

* Horses are one of the mobs that can open their mouth while making noise.
* Horses cannot swim while being ridden. (Skeleton horses won't drown)
* Horse armor can be found in various generated structures.
* The horse spawn egg also spawns donkeys, and rarely, mules.
* All of the horse types are different from each other in movement speed and jump height.
* Zombie and skeleton horses are the only passive mobs to be considered undead.
* If a player is pulling a horse with a lead and they enter a boat, the horse will swim after them at the same speed as the boat.
* In TU60, horses and their variants will have a less detailed and more blocky model. This is to give horses "a more *Minecraft*, style."
* Horses, along with donkeys, mules, skeleton horses, zombie horses, and llamas have a slight immunity to fall damage, though they can still take fall damage and will die from a large fall or if they are low on health.
* Zombie and skeleton horses despawn within 15 minutes.

## History

* Horses were added in Xbox 360 TU19, Xbox One CU7, PlayStation 3 1.12, WiiU Patch 1, and Nintendo Switch 1.0.1.
* Quick move was added to the horse inventory in Xbox 360 TU22, Xbox One CU10, and PlayStation 3 1.15.
* A feature was added in Xbox 360 TU31, Xbox One CU19, PlayStation 3 1.22, and WiiU Patch 3 where baby horse growth could be accelerated using wheat.
* Sounds for horses were added in Xbox 360 TU43, Xbox One CU33, PlayStation 3 1.36, and WiiU Patch 13.
* In Xbox 360 TU60, Xbox One CU51, PlayStation 3 1.64, WiiU Patch 30, and Nintendo Switch 1.0.11, horses were changed to have a more blocky model.
* The textures of horses were changed in PlayStation 4 1.90 as part of the Texture Update.

## References

1. ↑ https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/meet-horse