A zombie horse is an unused variant of the regular horse.
Spawning
Zombie horses may be created by the /summon command or with their spawn egg.
When using spawn egg, 20% spawn as foals.
Appearance
Zombie horses appear to be the horse equivalent of zombies. Like zombies, zombie horses are green-skinned, and their eyes are completely black.
Drops
Upon death, zombie horses drop:
- 0-2 Rotten Flesh. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III.
- 1–3 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
If saddled, they drop their saddle.
Usage
Tamed and saddled zombie horses can be used as one of the fastest means of transportation in the game. They can also be used to climb hills and jump fences. They can be ridden in water in any depth.
Equipment
Zombie horses have a lone equipment slot.
- Saddle slot: For equipping a saddle.
Riding
Once a horse is tamed and saddled, the player can control it with directional controls, jump, and the mouse. The player dismounts using the dismount control.
In Java Edition, when riding a horse, the hunger bar is 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.
A player can use any item while riding a horse, including drinking or throwing potions; activating doors or redstone devices; using chests, crafting tables, and furnaces; breaking and placing blocks; and attacking with melee weapons or bows.
A ridden horse automatically runs up any one-block-high slope. The 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. Horses cannot fit through a 1-block-wide gap.
When a player rides a zombie horse, both are unable to use Nether portals.
Behavior
Zombie horses 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.
Zombie horses, like most mobs, can ride in minecarts and boats.
Unlike other passive mobs, zombie horses slowly regenerate health. Zombie horses, in common with other undead mobs, take damage when affected by a Potion of Healing and are healed by a Potion of Harming.
Taming
Zombie horses cannot be tamed. However, a tamed zombie horse can be summoned using /summon minecraft:zombie_horse ~ ~ ~ {Tame:1b}.[Java Edition only]
Statistics
Zombie horses are spawned with constant health of 15, speed of 0.2, and have a jump strength ranging from 0.4–1.0, tending toward the average 0.7.
Sounds
{{Sound table}}.
Examples can be seen at Bee#Sounds and Ladder#Sounds.
The wikicode should be laid out neatly as in these examples for improved readability.
Remember to include a foot parameter so the table appears in the correct place. Do NOT convert the table using Visual Editor.
| Sound | Subtitle | Namespaced ID | Subtitle ID | Source | Pitch | Volume | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Horse cries | entity.zombie_horse.ambient
|
subtitles.entity.zombie_horse.ambient
|
? | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Zombie Horse dies | entity.zombie_horse.death
|
subtitles.entity.zombie_horse.death
|
? | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Zombie Horse hurts | entity.zombie_horse.hurt
|
subtitles.entity.zombie_horse.hurt
|
? | ? | ? | 16 |
Data values
Zombie horses have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob.
- Entity data
- Additional fields for mobs that can breed
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- Tags common to all horses
History
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6.1 | 13w16a | | |||
| 13w16b | Zombie horses have now been made slower and have been reduced from gliding so much. | ||||
| 13w18a | Horse saddles have now been removed. Zombie horses are now ridden using the saddle. | ||||
| 13w21a | Added new GUI for zombie horses, to control the saddle. | ||||
| 13w22a | Added new sound effects for zombie horses. | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Zombie horses are now available without third-party tools, with the introduction of the /summon command. | |||
| 15w43a–44b | The drops of zombie horses have now been changed several times. The end result is that zombie horses now always drop 1 rotten flesh, not affected by Looting. | ||||
| 15w47b | Added sounds for zombie horses eating food given by a player. | ||||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Added zombie horse spawn egg. | |||
| pre2 | Zombie horse spawn eggs have now been removed. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | Zombie horses now have a separate ID from horses: zombie_horse.
| |||
| Re-added zombie horse spawn egg. | |||||
| 16w38a | Zombie horses now drop 0–2 rotten flesh, affected by Looting. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w45a | | |||
| 17w46a | | ||||
| 18w03a | The models of zombie horses have now been changed, once again. Also, the textures of zombie horses have now been slightly altered and the nose heights have been increased by one pixel. | ||||
| pre2 | Zombie horses now sink in water. | ||||
| The zombie horse model has now been updated to fix serious Z-fighting from | |||||
| 1.14 | 19w08a | The textures of zombie horses have now been changed. | |||
| Upcoming Java Edition | |||||
| 1.16 | 20w09a | Zombie horses can now be leashed. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| 1.12 | Zombie Horses are able to be spawned with a spawn egg found in the creative iventory. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.15.0 | build 1 | | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | The entity ID for zombie horses has now been changed from zombiehorse to zombie_horse. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.9 | Zombie horses no longer open their mouths when bucking the player off or taking damage. | ||||
| 1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Baby zombie horses now have a chance of being spawned using a spawn egg. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | The textures of zombie horses have now been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Zombie horse" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- Dr. Zhark appears in the credits after the End Poem as the creator of the horses, including zombie horses.
- If a player pulling a zombie horse with a lead enters a boat, the zombie horse swims after them at the same speed as the boat.
- A player riding a zombie horse is dragged along if their zombie horse is being pulled by a lead, and can even be lifted up in the air in the same way.







