Despite the rumors, you actually cannot make saddles in Minecraft. These items can only be obtained through fishing, in loot chests, trading with villagers, or from killing certain nether mobs
Saddles are probably one of the funnest items to mess around with and let you ride a range of mobs. This guide shows you all the ways you can find a saddle, and how to use them!
How to Make a Saddle in Minecraft
Sorry, you can’t make a saddle in Minecraft – even with a crafting table. Luckily there are several other methods in the game to obtain these valuable items. Keep reading to find out how!
How to Get a Saddle in Minecraft
You can’t create saddles via a crafting table or any other means (in survival mode, without mods). In creative mode, you can just find one from the creative inventory menu, although it’s not so easy in survival mode.
Thankfully there are several different methods to obtain a saddle if you’re in survival mode, rather than creative mode.
Any of the following methods offers a reliable way to find a saddle.
Looting Chests
Saddles can be found inside many chests.
There are several different environments where these chests can be found.
Chests in these locations each have a specific spawn rate for saddles.
Jungle temples = 12.9%
Desert temples = 23.5%
Nether fortresses = 35.3%
Underground dungeons = 27.9%
End city = 13.3%
Weaponsmith villager chest = 16.2%
If you explore these environments enough, you should be lucky enough to find a saddle in a chest. Remember to check every small room in underground dungeons for a chest!
From the stats, you can see that a Nether fortress or dungeon chest are the most likely places to find a saddle.
Unfortunately, a Nether fortress is probably one of the most dangerous places in the game. If you plan on heading to a nether fortress make sure you pack a diamond sword, armor, and plenty of food!
Defeating and Looting Mobs
Certain enemies drop a saddle upon death. This is one of the most reliable methods for quickly obtaining a saddle in Minecraft – although you will have to fight some enemies.
There are two mobs in the game which drop a saddle upon death.
Striders – These Nether-dwelling mobs are sometimes found being ridden by a cute little zombified piglin. Killing this version of the mob has a 100% drop rate for saddles. Striders spawn floating on lava in the Nether or near a Nether fortress. There is a 1 in 30 chance of a Strider spawning with a Zombified Piglin riding it. (You can also ride striders if you have a saddle and some warped fungus.)
Ravagers – These freaky beasts also have a 100% saddle drop rate. Although finding a Ravager can take a bit of effort and luck. Ravagers appear in raids. You can instigate a raid by walking into a village while you’re affected by the Bad Omen curse. You get the Bad Omen by killing an Illager Captain, which can be found in pillager outposts, raids, and woodland mansions.
If you don’t want to risk stepping through a Nether portal into the nether realm, then you should try some of the following safer methods.
Trading with Villagers
Trading with villagers is another way to find a saddle and other valuable items. You just need to find a master-level leatherworker villager to trade with.
In Java Edition Minecraft, master leatherworker villagers always sell a saddle.
In Bedrock Edition Minecraft you have a 50% chance that these guys will be selling a saddle. (Bedrock includes pocket edition, consoles, and Nintendo switch).
The only materials required to buy a saddle from a villager are 6 emeralds.
Fishing for a Saddle
Fishing is another alternative technique to find a saddle in Minecraft. Although, this can be a time-consuming and tedious method because the drop rate is relatively low.
The rate for finding a saddle through fishing is 0.8%. This means that there is a 1 in 125 chance to find one for each catch you get.
Statistically, if you make 125 hauls, you should find a saddle – unless luck isn’t on your side…
Because they count as treasure items, you can increase your chance to retrieve a saddle by enchanting your fishing rod with the Luck of the Sea enchantment.
For each level of Luck of the Sea, your chances of hauling treasure increase by 2%. This enchantment has three levels, so you get a 6% boost at the max level.
What Animals Can You Use a Saddle On in Minecraft?
You can ride a bunch of different animals with a saddle in Minecraft, although the mechanics vary from steed to steed.
Currently, you can ride:
Equestrian Animals
Camels (coming soon in MC1.20)
Donkeys
Horses
Mules
Skeleton Horse
Other Rideable Animals
Pigs
Striders
To ride horses and other equestrian animals, your steed needs to be tamed before you can attach a saddle. Using apples, carrots, golden apples, golden carrots, hay bales, or wheat makes it faster to tame a horse.
Once your horse is tamed, you just need to put the saddle in the tamed horses inventory. (This is done by holding Sneak, and hitting the Use button).
When saddling other mobs, the mechanics are not so straightforward. Both pigs and striders can be ridden, although you’ll need a couple of different items to be able to steer them properly.
To ride a pig, you’ll need a carrot on a stick to be able to control its direction, in combination with a saddle to sit on its back.
As for Striders, you can saddle them, but you’re going to need a warped fungus on a stick to steer them.
While Striders only spawn in the Nether realm, you can actually take them to the overworld by riding them through a Nether portal. Just keep them out of water and rain or they’ll die!
Minecraft Saddle Mods
In vanilla Minecraft, saddle crafting isn’t possible. However, there are a bunch of mods that make it possible to craft a saddle and also expand the possibilities these animal seats offer.
Here are some of the best Minecraft saddle and horse mods we recommend you check out!
Playing with a Saddle is one of the most entertaining activities in Minecraft. Sure, because they can’t be crafted it takes a little bit of effort to find one – but it’s definitely worth the time.
Exploring the world of Minecraft is a lot quicker (and more entertaining) when riding a horse. Good luck finding your saddle and steed. Remember – if you get bored of grinding one saddle-finding method, you can always try something else!
FAQs
Can You Craft a Saddle in Minecraft?
No, you can’t craft a saddle in Minecraft. They can only be obtained from looting chests, killing certain enemies, fishing, a villager trade, or from the creative inventory menu.
How Do You Make a Horse Saddle in Minecraft?
Sadly, you can’t make a horse saddle – no matter how skilled you are with a crafting table. Check out the rest of this guide to find out where to get one!
Why Can’t You Craft a Saddle in Minecraft?
As the devs will tell you – “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature”. There isn’t really any good explanation as to why these cannot be crafted. One reason could be to make them seem rarer and more precious. The game makes you work harder to gather one.
Dane started off gaming at the tender age of 3 with the first Atari console. His favorite video game genres are turn-based RPGs (can I get a shout out for Tactics Ogre?) and fighting games. Read more...
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