Horse

Horses are a mob that is planned to be added to 1.6. The horse was created with assistance from DrZhark (John Olarte), creator of the Mo' Creatures mod. The result was hence the same as the horses from the mod.

Once a horse is tamed and a saddle is attached, they can be controlled with standard directional controls and the mouse. Different variations of horse armor can be put onto horses. They can be tied to fence posts using a lead. There are different breeds of horses, similar to the different breeds of cats. A foal's growth can be accelerated via the use of apples, wheat, sugar, bread, golden apples and hay bales.

Appearance
There are currently 5 variations of the horse mob in the game, where the variations are normal horses, donkeys, mules, skeletal horses, and undead horses. Each variation has unique features and markings. Unlike wolves and ocelots, the appearances of horses do not change once they have been tamed, though tame horses may be differentiated from wild horses if they have been given equipment.

Normal horses
Normal horses all feature the same stocky build and can be 1 of 7 base colors: white, buckskin, dark bay, bay, black, dapple gray, and flaxen chestnut. The horses also have a secondary coloring known as markings. There are 5 different marking variations: no markings, stockings and blaze, snowflake appaloosa, pinto, and sooty. In total, there are 35 possible horse coat combinations taking into consideration all base colors and markings. (For entity data values, see also Horse Variants.)

Donkeys
Donkeys are smaller all around than the normal horses and sport long, erect ears. Their manes do not protrude, but rather are drawn directly on the back of their heads and necks. All donkeys have grey-brown coats with darker ankles, ears, manes, and tails.

Mules
Mules, the offspring of interbred horses and donkeys, are closer to (but are not quite) the size of a normal horse. However, their ears, coats, and manes are like those of the donkey, though the mules’ coats are darker and reddish-brown in color. You can also put a chest on the mule to store items.

Skeleton horses
The skeleton horses are comprised of white bones, though it still maintains the general structure of a normal horse. This is reminisent of the hostile skeleton mob, which is also made of bones but structured like the player. Jeb later mentioned that this mob would not be implemented onto Vanilla Survival, but would still be in the files for developers and mapmakers.

Undead horses
The undead horses appear to be the counterpart of the zombie mobs, much like how the skeleton horses resemble the humanoid skeletons. Like zombies, the undead horses are green-skinned on account of their leathery-looking rotten flesh and their eyes are completely black. Jeb later mentioned that this mob would not be implemented onto Vanilla Survival, but would still be in the files for developers and mapmakers.

Usage
Tamed horses can be used as one of the fastest means of transportation in the game. They can also be used to climb hills, as horses can jump very high. Donkeys and mules can be equipped with chests and used as pack animals.

Skeleton and undead horses are currently of little use to the player because they cannot be tamed, but their appearances and their respective similarities to skeletons and zombies suggest that they may be intended as enemies.

Behavior


Normal horses and donkeys will spawn in the plains biome in the Overworld in herds of as few as 4 individuals. Normal horse herds seem to be somewhat rarer than groups of other passive animal mobs such as cows or sheep. Donkey herds are even more uncommon. There is little variation within naturally spawned herds; foals may spawn alongside adult horses, but coat types all tend to be similar. For normal horse herds, most of the animals will have similar or the same markings and base coat colors.

Mules, skeleton horses, and undead horses do not spawn naturally. Mules can be acquired through breeding. Currently, the undead horses and skeleton horses can only be brought into the game by editing the region files with third party editing programs.

All horses will roam idly, occasionally stopping to rear, swish their tails, or lower their heads as though eating the grass. Unlike sheep, the eating animation does not actually cause any grass to be consumed. If a player comes near, the horses may turn to look at them. Any horse, even a wild one, will allow itself to be attached to a lead without protest. However, if the player attempts to saddle an untamed horse, it will rear and flail its front hooves, though this causes no damage to the player. Horses remain passive even when hit. The appearances of the undead and skeleton horses suggest that they could possibly be intended as hostile mobs, but at this time they are completely passive if spawned. This might change when they are officially released.

Horses will also open their mouths and make noises that depend on the particular horse’s variation. Normal horses make neighs and whinnies, while donkeys and mules, which use the same audio, emit brays. Skeleton horses make various metallic sounds. Undead horses make several ominous moaning sounds.

Horses don't like water, so if you have a horse you want to tame in the water it will flail about and throw you off immediately after you try to mount it. You can build a few blocks underneath the horse to get it on dry land.

Taming
Adult normal horses, donkeys, and mules can be tamed; foals, skeleton horses, and undead horses cannot. It is necessary to tame a horse in order to breed it, give it equipment, or ride it for any length of time.

To tame a wild horse, approach it and right click on it with an empty hand. You will climb on top of it, and will likely be thrown off. After a few attempts, it will allow you to remain on it and will give off heart animations. At this point you can dismount it by pressing the sneak key and place a saddle on it, or you can place a saddle without using the sneak key at all by right-clicking on the horse with the saddle in hand. Horses can also be saddled by opening your inventory while mounted and moving the saddle to the appropriate slot in the horse's inventory.

The chance of successful taming on the first try is almost 0%, yet it can be done. Taming on the first attempt is very rare. After the first attempt without taming the horse, the chances increase by about 5%, and usually one can then tame a horse after about 3-4 attempts. Taming can be sped up by feeding the horse any of the approved foods when you are standing next to it - see column "Taming prob." in the table below.

One of the more efficient ways to try and tame a horse is to build walls around it, making the space within no more than 10x10, don't let the horse have too much space. Should you fail to tame the horse, you can always come back later, provided the enclosure contains the horse (i.e. don't put blocks near the edge, etc.). Another tactic is to use water, since it will limit the horses ability to move, allowing you a better chance to tame it.

Breeding
Feeding horses golden apples/carrots will activate love mode. Until snapshot 13w26a, horses couldn't be bred if they were wearing armor. Depending on the variations of the parent horses, the offspring can be one of several types. The offspring will be more spindly than their adult versions and will grow progressively larger with time until they reach their full size. In all cases, the offspring may possess qualities superior to its parents, such as having more health, better speed, or greater jump strength.

The offspring will not automatically belong to the player who owns its parents. Rather, it will be born as an untamed horse and will need to be tamed if the player wants the benefits of ownership. It will not be tamable until it has grown into an adult, a process which takes approximately 20 minutes. If the player does not want to wait, they can be fed to make them mature faster. See table below.

The offspring’s healthbar will always shows 26 hearts even though its real health is lower (and never exceeds 15 hearts). This glitch can be fixed by reloading the world.

Normal horse
Breeding two normal horses produces a normal horse foal. The new foal takes one of the colors and one of the markings of its parents the majority of the time. On rare occasions however, an offspring may be produced with a color or pattern that matches neither of the parents.

Mule
As in the real world, mules can be produced by mating a horse with a donkey, which seems to work more rarely than the breeding of two normal horses or two donkeys. As with their real-life counterpart, the mules themselves cannot breed.

Donkey
Breeding two donkeys creates a donkey foal. Since all donkeys have the same texture, the offspring will look exactly like its parents when it is fully grown.

Foods
Feeding a horse food can alter its behavior, cause it to grow (if it is not yet an adult), and/or restore its health. The table below lists the effects of the various foods horses will take. The two undead horses cannot be fed, even if spawned tame with an editor.

Note: it takes 20 minutes for a newborn foal to grow into an adult.

Effects
Effects can be placed on tame horses by using splash potions. Splash potions have to be thrown at a distance from the player at the horses, or the player will mount on the horses. However, should the player decide to mount a horse, the player can still throw splash potions to give the horses effects, but it will also be applied to the player.

As of the current snapshot, effects can only be seen on the horses through the particles, not through accessing the inventory of a horse, like effects would appear in a player's inventory menu. ''Be careful of what effects you choose! They can also harm a player if caution is not observed.'' Like any other mob, horses can't drink milk, so the effect has to wear off before the horse is normal again. Keep that in mind!

Effects can also be given to donkeys and mules, but it is not known whether or not undead horses will be able to gain effects.

Creative Mode
The health GUI for horses, mules, and donkeys show up when the player is in Survival Mode, not when the player is in Creative Mode. The only other GUI's that appear in Creative Mode for horses, mules, and donkeys is the jump bar.

Equipment
Tamed horses can be equipped with saddles, horse armor (normal horses only), or chests (donkeys or mules only). Foals cannot be equipped with anything. Skeleton horses, and undead horses cannot be tamed, but if spawned tame with an editor they can be equipped with saddles only.

Equipment can be placed on a horse by holding it and then right clicking on the horse, or by accessing its inventory. A horse’s inventory can be accessed by mounting the horse and opening the player inventory or by holding down shift and then right-clicking on the horse. (Note that right-clicking without holding down shift will cause the player to mount the horse.) A normal horse’s inventory will only have 2 slots, 1 for a saddle and 1 for horse armor. A donkey or mule will only have a saddle slot originally, but if it is given a chest, it will aquire 15 more inventory slots that can hold anything the player wishes.

Chests can only be given to a horse by right-clicking on the horse with the chest in hand, and afterwards the chest cannot be removed, except by killing the horse. Upon death, a donkey, horse, or mule will drop the attached chest and its contents.

Even a wild horse can be attached to a lead, which can then be tied to a fence post to keep the horse from wandering. Leads are attached by holding it in hand and then right-clicking on the horse.

Riding
Once you have tamed a horse and put a saddle on it, you can control it with standard directional controls and the mouse (Please note that a horse can be mounted without a saddle, but can not be controlled, similarly to how a pig with a saddle can not be controlled without a Carrot on a Stick).

Horses can be made to jump, and holding the jump key allows you to charge your jump. Horses are not affected by Jump Boost beacons. Sneaking causes you to dismount, as does going in water deeper than two blocks.

Horse jump bar

Empty: 

Full: 

When you mount a horse, the hunger bar and oxygen bar are replaced by the horse's health in survival or adventure mode. It uses a slightly different heart texture than the player's health bar. The experience bar is replaced by the horse jump bar, which gauges how high you jump. The maximum jumping height, which is reached when the bar is fully charged as you release the spacebar, depends on the horse you ride. It seems to range from about 1.2 to 5.1 blocks high. As each horse has different statistics, it is difficult to gauge the maximum distance, but testing has revealed that certain horses can jump distances of 12 blocks.

You can use any item while riding a horse, including drinking or throwing potions, activating doors or redstone devices, or using chests, crafting tables, and furnaces. You can also break and place blocks, use a sword, and fire arrows.

When running forward, you will start at a slow walk and build to a speed faster than sprinting. You will automatically run up any one block high slope. You are three blocks tall while on a horse, but you can ride under 2 block tall areas, causing your head to pass through blocks. This causes suffocation damage, except when passing through non-solid blocks. You are slightly wider than one block, and are unable to walk through one block wide gaps. However, due to the horse's length, you can run over any one block gap. It also appears you can run across a two block gap at high speeds, but this does not seem to work all of the time.

Virtually all horses appear to be able to go faster than a minecart when both are moving at full speed. Some seem to be quite dramatically faster than a minecart. This can be combined with speed potions and the Nether to make the horse easily the fastest practical way to travel in Minecraft (around 130 m/s Earth-equivalent in The Nether). The speed of a horse is irrespective of its outward appearance. In order to find a fast horse, you have to tame multiple individuals and compare them.

Horses are very slow moving backwards, and about as fast as the player when moving sideways. Therefore, turning around is quite preferable to moving backwards or sideways.

Trivia

 * Donkeys and mules can be used to store and transport goods.
 * Just like other baby mobs, you can spawn foals with the spawn egg by right-clicking on a horse. The foal will be the same breed as the horse.
 * Every foal spawned this way follows the horse you spawned it from like a normal baby mob.
 * If you ride just beside a tree causing your head to be within a block of leaves, it will cause certain parts of textures of some blocks to disappear. This can be used to have "X-Ray vision" as you can essentially see through nearby trees.
 * An interesting trick you can do while riding a horse is to get on your horse, press F1 on your keyboard, drink a potion of invisibility, and press F5. It will look like you are the horse, instead of riding on the horse.
 * This can be used to trick other players into thinking that you are a horse, making this a great mob disguise.
 * This also works with pigs, but you can only control it with a carrot on a stick, which other players can see you holding when you are invisible.
 * It is possible to jump over wooden fences while riding a horse.
 * It is possible to "double jump" by falling off of a block above the ground, and then jumping before landing.
 * Even though the skeleton and zombie horses look like undead versions of their counterparts, they are not treated as undead. A wither will attack them as if they were any other living mob.
 * Running over a TNT Minecart landmine will result in the horse dying, but the player being undamaged until they hit the ground.
 * Horses are quite possibly the best method of travelling long distances overland; they can attain speeds of at least 11 meters/second (660 blocks per minute, nearly 40 km/hour), navigate hilly terrain very easily, jump ravines with near-100% consistency, and require no infrastructure except at the end (they are not good in jungles or some forests though.)
 * Untamed horses can despawn when far enough away from the player.
 * Same goes for foals bred from tamed horses.
 * It is currently possible to get tamed undead and skeleton horses via use of NBTedit by changing a horse's variation number to 3 and 4 for undead and skeleton horses respectively.
 * A horse, like most mobs, can ride in a minecart. You CANNOT get full grown horses out. But you can get foals out by hitting the cart with a fishing pole.
 * It is impossible to enter a Nether portal while on a horse. It is possible however, to sometimes enter the portal on the horse and then press shift to escape, sending the horse to the nether on its own, like dogs. Additionally, you can dismount, walk the horse into the portal with a lead, and remount. Or you can just nudge the horse into the Nether.
 * In the Minecraft credits it gives credit to Dr. Zhark for the Horse.
 * It seems that you can not anger an enderman by looking at it whilst on a horse.
 * The Buckskin colored horse is the only horse that has a white blaze no matter what markings it receives.
 * If you open the horse's panel while it is leashed, the leash will overflow outside of the horse model.