Horse armor[note 1] is a special type of armor that can be given to a horse to wear. Only normal horses can wear armor; donkey, mule and undead variants such as skeleton horses and zombie horses cannot be equipped with armor.
Obtaining
Natural generation
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Iron Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 21.5% |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 18% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.5% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 19% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.5% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Iron Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 21.5% |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 18% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.4% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 19% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.4% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Golden Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 14.7% |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 12.3% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.5% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 29.1% | |
| Ruined portal | Chest | 1 | 7.3% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.5% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Golden Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 14.7% |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 12.3% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.4% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 29.1% | |
| Ruined portal | Chest | 1 | 7.3% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.4% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Diamond Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 7.6% |
| Ancient City | Chest | 1 | 16.1% | |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 6.3% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.5% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 11.8% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.5% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Diamond Horse Armor | Dungeon | Chest | 1 | 7.6% |
| Ancient City | Chest | 1 | 16.1% | |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1 | 6.3% | |
| End city | Chest | 1 | 4.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1 | 4.4% | |
| Nether fortress | Chest | 1 | 11.8% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1 | 2.4% | |
| Village | Weaponsmith's chest | 1 | 5.7% | |
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Leather |
Trading
Expert-level leatherworker villagers sell leather horse armor for 6 emeralds as part of their trade.
Usage
Protection
Horse armor can be equipped to horses either by manually placing it in its respective slot (), or by right-clicking the horse with it.
There is a gradual increase in the defense given from a horse wearing the different types of armor. Note that golden horse armor provides more protection than iron horse armor, whereas the opposite is true for player armor.
| Material | Armor |
|---|---|
| Leather | 3 ( |
| Iron | 5 ( |
| Gold | 7 ( |
| Diamond | 11 ( |
Durability
Unlike player armor, horse armor does not have durability. This means a single horse armor can be used indefinitely.
Enchanting
Unlike player armor, horse armor cannot be enchanted. Using an anvil in Creative does allow the armor to be enchanted, but any applied enchantments have no effect.
Dyeing
Leather horse armor can be dyed 12,326,391 different colors (using lone dyes or dye combinations) and put onto a horse to display that color. These changes can be reverted by using a filled cauldron with dyed leather horse armor.
Smelting usage
| Name | Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Iron Nugget or Gold Nugget |
Iron Horse Armor or Golden Horse Armor + Any fuel |
Piglins
Piglins are attracted to golden horse armor and run toward any golden horse armor on the ground, and inspect it for 6 to 8 seconds before putting it in their inventory.
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Leather Horse Armor | leather_horse_armor | item.minecraft.leather_horse_armor |
| Iron Horse Armor | iron_horse_armor | item.minecraft.iron_horse_armor |
| Diamond Horse Armor | diamond_horse_armor | item.minecraft.diamond_horse_armor |
| Golden Horse Armor | golden_horse_armor | item.minecraft.golden_horse_armor |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather Horse Armor | horsearmorleather | 416 | item.horsearmorleather.name |
| Iron Horse Armor | horsearmoriron | 417 | item.horsearmoriron.name |
| Diamond Horse Armor | horsearmordiamond | 419 | item.horsearmordiamond.name |
| Golden Horse Armor | horsearmorgold | 418 | item.horsearmorgold.name |
History
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6.1 | 13w16a | ||||
Horse armor can be crafted using the following recipe.
| |||||
| 13w18a | The crafting recipe for horse armor has been removed. | ||||
| Horse armor can now be found in chests in jungle & desert temples, dungeons, nether fortresses, stronghold altar rooms and village blacksmith buildings. | |||||
| Iron horse armor can now additionally be found in mineshaft chests. | |||||
| 13w21a | Horse armor is no longer stackable, to be consistent with other types of armor. | ||||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Horse armor has been added to end city chests. | |||
| 15w43a | The average yield of horse armor in nether fortress chests has slightly decreased. | ||||
| 15w44a | The average yield of horse armor in desert temple chests has increased. | ||||
| The average yield of iron horse armor from dungeon chests has slightly decreased. | |||||
| Iron horse armor has been removed from mineshaft chests. | |||||
| 1.11.1 | 16w50a | Golden and iron horse armor can now be smelted down into one of their respective nuggets. | |||
| 1.13 | 17w45a | ||||
| 17w46a | |||||
| 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 417, 418 and 419. | ||||
| 18w03a | |||||
| 18w22a | |||||
| pre2 | A bug with the horse skin and horse armor textures not applying correctly has been fixed.[2] | ||||
| 1.14 | 18w50a | ||||
| February 20, 2019 | |||||
| 19w08a | |||||
| 1.14.1 | Pre-Release 1 | ||||
| 1.16 | 20w15a | Horse armor placed in a dispenser can now be put on tamed horses. | |||
| 20w16a | Golden horse armor now generates in ruined portal chests. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.15.0 | build 1 | ||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Horse armor can now be found inside end city chests. | |||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Iron and golden horse armor are now smeltable. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.6 | beta 1.2.6.2 | ||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Horse armor can now be found in plains village weaponsmith chests. | |||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Horse armor can now be found in savanna, desert, taiga, snowy taiga and snowy tundra village weaponsmith chests. | |||
| beta 1.11.0.4 | Leather horse armor can now be bought from leatherworker villagers. | ||||
| beta 1.11.0.5 | |||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | |
| TU53 | CU43 | 1.49 | Patch 23 | 1.0.3 | Iron and golden horse armor are now smeltable. |
| TU60 | CU51 | 1.64 | Patch 30 | 1.0.11 | |
| 1.90 | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | |||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Horse Armor" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
The GUI for horses implemented in 13w21a which allows the removal and switching of armor.
Notes
- ↑ Known as Armour in British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand English variants.

