Skeleton Horse

A skeleton horse is an undead variant of the horse. It sometimes spawns when lightning strikes.

Spawning


A skeleton horseman is a undead jockey consisting of a skeleton riding a skeleton horse. Skeleton horsemen spawn only from a "skeleton trap horse".

A “skeleton trap horse” is a hostile skeleton horse spawned from a fraction of lightning generated naturally by a thunderstorm (0.75–1.5% chance on Easy, 1.5–4% on Normal, and 2.25–6.75% on Hard, depending on regional difficulty). $$, the lightning that spawns a trap horse doesn't strike nearby entities or spawn fires. Lightning strikes caused by a Channeling-enchanted trident and lightning strikes on a lightning rod never spawn a skeleton trap horse. The trap horse despawns after 15 minutes if not triggered.

The skeleton trap horse is triggered when a player comes within 10 blocks of it, resulting in a lightning strike that does not start fires or damage nearby entities. When struck, $$, the skeleton trap horse transforms into a skeleton horseman: a skeleton, a stray or a wither skeleton riding a skeleton horse. It also spawns three additional skeleton horsemen in the vicinity. $$, when struck, the trap horse is despawned and then 4 skeleton horsemen are spawned.

Skeleton in skeleton horseman is equipped with an enchanted iron helmet and an enchanted bow. $$ both the horse and horseman have damage immunity for 3 seconds after spawning. $$, both the horse and horseman are always immune to lightning.

Trap skeleton horse can be spawned in Java Edition using the command, or in Bedrock Edition using the command.

Drops
Upon death, a skeleton horse drops: If saddled, it drops a saddle.
 * 0–2 s. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III.
 * when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Killing a baby skeleton horse yields no items or experience. $$, killing a trap skeleton horse also yields no items or experience.

Usage
Skeleton horses can be used as one of the fastest means of transportation in the game, though they are unable to fit through single block-wide openings. When ridden, they can also be used to climb hills and jump fences because the skeleton horses can jump up to five block heights, versus the player's maximum of one (without jump boost).

They can be ridden in water in any depth. Skeleton horses sink in the water and can be ridden along the ocean or river floor.

Skeleton horses can be pulled using a lead.

Equipment
Skeleton horses have the following slot available: Saddles can be placed on a tamed skeleton horse by holding it and then on the skeleton horse, or by accessing its inventory. A skeleton horse’s inventory can be accessed by mounting the skeleton horse and using control, or by  and then  on the skeleton horse.
 * Saddle Slot: For equipping a saddle.

Baby skeleton horses cannot be equipped.

A skeleton horse does not have an inventory and cannot be equipped with a saddle or armor. Despite this, the default texture file, like those of normal horses, donkeys and mules, includes a chest.

Riding
$$, skeleton horses can be controlled by the player without a saddle. However, $$, skeleton horses can be equipped with a saddle and then controlled. Like riding other entities, it is impossible for a player to use a nether portal or end portal while on a skeleton horse.

The player can control a tamed (and saddled ) skeleton horse with standard directional controls,, and the mouse. The player dismounts using the control.

A player controlled skeleton horse automatically runs up any one block high slope. The skeleton horse and rider can safely fit through a space as low as 2.75 blocks high. Lower clearance risks suffocating the rider if the rider's head enters a non-transparent block. The horse itself can enter gaps as low as 1.625 blocks high, but may itself take suffocation damage when clearance is less than 1.75 blocks. Skeleton horses cannot fit through a 1-block-wide gap.

Player controlled skeleton horses have the ability of "jumping charging". When the player rides them, the experience bar on HUD is replaced by jumping charging bar. A controlled skeleton horses can be made to and holding the control charges for a higher leap. Skeleton horses are not affected by jump boost beacons or potions.

Unlike normal horses, a skeleton horse does not force the player to dismount when it is under water; rather, it can be ridden underwater without drowning. The player can still drown underwater without the proper potions or enchantments, even when mounted on the skeleton horse. When underwater, its running speed and jump remain the same although it has a slower rate of descent.

Behavior
The skeleton horse is an undead mob that is completely passive. Skeleton horses behave like normal horses, roaming idly and 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. Skeleton horses can breathe in water.

Unlike other passive mobs, skeleton horses slowly regenerate health evident by their health bar while the player rides it. This is the same case for normal horses.

Skeleton horses cannot be bred or fed.

Skeleton horses, in common with other undead mobs, take damage when affected by a Potion of Healing and are healed by a Potion of Harming. They are also affected by the Smite enchantment.

Other notes:
 * $$, the skeleton horse in a naturally spawned skeleton horseman jockey is tamed. $$, the skeleton horse is always tamed.
 * The skeleton horses are passive if the player kills the skeleton rider.
 * The skeleton wears an iron helmet, unless it randomly spawned with some other headgear.
 * The skeleton's bow and helmet are enchanted as if on an enchantment table at level 5–22. The exact level depends on regional difficulty; on Easy it is always a level-5 enchantment.
 * The skeleton trap horse and the skeleton horse in a jockey are always adult. $$, the skeleton trap horse is not an adult nor a baby, though it looks like an adult.
 * Baby skeleton horses can be spawned with a spawn egg. Baby skeleton horses cannot grow up normally $$.
 * The skeleton in a naturally spawned skeleton horseman jockey does not despawn.
 * A trap horse may spawn in areas that a regular horse may not, such as the middle of an ocean.
 * A trap horse can trigger normally in clear weather (and often a player encounters a trap horse after the thunderstorm has cleared).
 * The skeleton drops more experience orbs.
 * If the difficulty is set to Peaceful, the skeleton riders disappear but the horses remain.
 * The skeleton does not shoot any mob that attacks the skeleton horse.

Statistics
All horses have three "equine stats" that vary from horse to horse: health, maximum movement speed, and jump strength. These stats are created once the horse is born or spawned, and are not affected by food.

Spawned values
When spawned in any way except breeding – for instance, using commands, spawning naturally, spawning as part of a skeleton trap, or using spawn eggs – horses are assigned their stats within certain ranges, specific according to their horse type.

Health
A skeleton horse's health is always 15. Displayed hearts are health, divided by two, rounded down. A horse with an odd number of health points (15, 17, 19, etc.) does not show the last half-heart. If the horse has lost one health point lower than the inflicted damage and did not regenerate, it has an odd number of health points, otherwise, it has an even number of health points.

Movement speed
Skeleton horse's speed is always 0.2; the player's normal walking speed is 0.1. The speed listed does not include any status effect that affects the speed of a horse or a player.

See transportation to compare the speeds of various transportation methods.

Jump strength
Jump strength ranges from 0.4–1.0, averaging 0.7.

A jump strength of 0.5 is enough to clear $$ blocks, while 1.0 is enough to clear $1 9/16$ blocks.

The following derived equation can be used to approximate a horse jump height, with x being its jump strength attribute. This function was fit to the data found in the table below.


 * $$\mathsf{JumpHeight} = -0.182 x^3 + 3.67 x^2 + 2.13 x - 0.344$$

The jump strengths required to clear several block heights are:

Sounds
Skeleton horse sounds are the sounds of the regular horse but lower pitched and slowed with reverb. Skeleton horses use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.



ID




Entity data
Skeleton horses have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.




 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.
 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Trivia

 * Dr. Zhark appears in the credits after the End Poem as the creator of the horses, including skeleton horses.
 * $5 1/4$, skeleton horses can be transported in a boat by riding the skeleton horse and jumping into the boat then dismounting (leaving the horse behind in the boat) and activating the boat from underneath/underwater. Attempting to activate the boat in order to pilot it from above results in the player being mounted on the horse again rather than being placed inside the boat to pilot it.