How to tame & breed horses and donkeys in Minecraft

Horses and donkeys are wonderful companions to tame when you want to traverse the open world of Minecraft. But how do you breed them? Here’s everything you need to know.

Getting around in Minecraft can be frustrating, especially when your base is so far away and you’re low on food. Thankfully, horses and donkeys exist to help your journey in the large open world game move a little faster. All you need to do is tame them. Taming horses and donkeys in Minecraft can be a challenge and does require some tough-to-get items, but it’s all worth it for the speed and the uses.

Once you have a horse or donkey, it then comes down to needing a few more. After all, they’re adorable and incredibly useful for carrying and traveling. Here’s how to tame and breed horses and donkeys in Minecraft.

How to tame horses and donkeys in Minecraft

Grab a saddle and some food to tame these adorable animals.

Taming and breeding horses will give you a fast mode of transport and an interesting battle companion. Be sure to pick the one you’re happy with before staying with one horse in particular.

Taming horses and donkeys in Minecraft is not as easy as taming a wolf or an ocelot, although it is equally as time-consuming as sneaking around an ocelot for 10 minutes.

What you’ll need to do, before even going up to the mount, is get hold of a saddle. This will enable you to control the horse or donkey once tamed.

Taming a horse takes few steps but a lot of patience, here’s how to do it:

• Find the horse or donkey you want to tame.
• Right-click their back (or subsequent button for console players).
• It will likely throw you off.
• Repeat until hearts appear around the horse.

While it’s not the quickest process, it is one of the only ways to tame an animal in Minecraft without resources, other than a saddle. However, you can speed up the process by feeding them before getting on their backs. You can feed them:

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

How to breed horses and donkeys in Minecraft

Breeding horses and donkeys requires a fair amount of gold.

Before you begin breeding your horses or donkeys in Minecraft, it’s wise to get a few golden apples or golden carrots to feed them. Then, grab two of your favorite mounts and bring them into the same pen or within close proximity.

Once that has been complete, in the same way as other animals, simply feed each horse or donkey one golden apple or golden carrot each to give them hearts and they will mate. The baby animal will have the average stats of both parents.

That’s all you need to know about breeding and taming horses and donkeys in Minecraft. Why not check out our Minecraft hub for more guides and news? Or, try out some of these:

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