What do horses eat and how to breed them in Minecraft

In the world of Minecraft, a game known for its vast and exciting landscapes, filled with unique creatures and opportunities for creativity, the player can interact with an array of animals, each with their own specific needs and behaviors. Horses are one such creature, and knowing what they eat and how they breed can greatly enhance your gameplay. This article will explore what horses eat in Minecraft, how to find food, the health benefits they receive, and how to breed them.

What Do Horses Eat in Minecraft?

In Minecraft, horses have specific dietary preferences. They eat golden apples, golden carrots, hay bales, apples, and wheat. However, it’s important to note that only golden apples and golden carrots can be used for taming and breeding horses.

1. Golden Apples: Golden apples are crafted by placing an apple in the middle square of the crafting grid and surrounding it with eight gold ingots. They not only restore health but also provide the player with temporary resistance and fire resistance effects.
2. Golden Carrots: Golden carrots are created by placing a carrot in the middle square of the crafting grid and surrounding it with eight gold nuggets. Golden carrots are the most saturating food item in the game and can restore the most hunger points.
3. Hay Bales: Hay bales can be used to feed horses, increase their health, and help them grow faster if they are still a foal. Hay bales can be crafted with nine pieces of wheat.
4. Apples: Apples can drop from oak or dark oak trees when their leaves decay or are broken. They can be used to feed horses but cannot be used for taming or breeding.
5. Wheat: Wheat is primarily used to craft hay bales, but you can also feed it directly to horses. Wheat can be farmed by the player.

How to Find Horse Food in Minecraft

Finding food for horses in Minecraft is a straightforward process. Here’s how you can find each item:

1. Golden Apples and Golden Carrots: These items are primarily crafted by the player using gold and either apples or carrots. Gold can be mined deep underground and apples can be collected from decaying oak or dark oak leaves, while carrots can be farmed or found in village farms.
2. Hay Bales: Hay bales are crafted from wheat, which can be grown by the player or found in village farms.
3. Apples: As mentioned above, apples can be obtained from oak or dark oak trees when their leaves decay or are broken.
4. Wheat: Wheat seeds can be obtained by breaking tall grass or can be found in chests within dungeons. Once you have seeds, you can plant them on farmland to grow wheat.

Health Benefits for Horses

Feeding horses in Minecraft does more than just satiate them. It can also restore their health and help them grow:

1. Golden Apples and Golden Carrots: These items can be used to heal or speed up the growth of foals. Each golden apple or golden carrot can restore some health of an adult horse or reduce the growth time of a foal by 10%.
2. Hay Bales: Feeding a horse a hay bale will restore up to 20 health points, making it a very effective healing item.
3. Apples and Wheat: While these items don’t restore as much health or reduce growth time as much as the golden foods or hay bales, they can still be used to heal or grow horses.

Breeding Horses in Minecraft

Breeding horses in Minecraft requires golden apples or golden carrots. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Step 1: First, you need to tame two horses. This can be done by repeatedly mounting them (right-clicking or tapping the ‘Mount’ button) until they no longer buck you off. You’ll know a horse is tamed when you see heart particles around it. Each horse has its own temper, so the amount of time it takes to tame them can vary.

Step 2: Once both horses are tamed, you need to feed each of them a golden apple or a golden carrot. As mentioned before, these items can be crafted using gold and either apples or carrots. When you feed a golden apple or a golden carrot to a horse, you will see heart particles, indicating that the horse is in ‘Love Mode’.

Step 3: After both horses are in ‘Love Mode’, they will move towards each other and, after a moment, a baby horse (or foal) will appear.

Step 4: The foal will follow its parents until it grows to full size. You can speed up its growth by feeding it golden apples, golden carrots, apples, hay bales, or wheat.

Step 5: Once the foal has grown into an adult horse, it can be tamed and ridden just like any other horse.

Breeding horses in Minecraft is not only a fun activity but can also be a strategic one. Each baby horse inherits traits from its parents, such as color, markings, and even stats like speed and jump strength. Therefore, by carefully selecting which horses to breed, players can create a lineage of high-performing horses.

In conclusion, understanding what horses eat and how they breed in Minecraft can greatly enhance your gameplay. By feeding horses the right food and taking the time to breed them, you can create a team of strong and fast horses, perfect for exploring your Minecraft world.

Interested in learning more about farm animals and farming in Minecraft? Check out the Complete Guide to Farming and Farm Animals

What next?

Now that you know how to breed and tame horses, why don’t you get started with sheep? Learn all about managing sheep in Minecraft with our complete guide to Minecraft sheep