To breed horses in Minecraft, you need to give two tame ones a Golden Apple or Golden Carrot each. Once you do this, the two animals will enter Love Mode, and a foal (baby horse) will appear near them after a short time. This process can be used to breed horses, donkeys, and mules.
Table of contents
How to breed horses in Minecraft
Before you can breed horses or donkeys in Minecraft, you’ll need to tame two of them.
Taming horses and donkeys
The process of taming a horse or donkey in Minecraft is the similar to other animals. To do so:
- Find a wild horse or donkey.
- Next, increase the animal’s temper by trying to mount it repeatedly.
- Alternatively, feed it apples, sugar, or wheat and then try to mount it.
- Eventually, you’ll be able to mount it and stay on, which means the animal is tamed.
Breeding
Once you have two tame horses or donkeys, getting them to breed is easy. Just hand them a Golden Apple or Golden Carrot when they’re in proximity and wait for the magic. The animals will enter Love Mode, which is indicated by hearts floating around them.
Once a male and female horse or donkey enter Love Mode in proximity to one another, you’ll have to wait a bit. Eventually, a baby horse or donkey will pop into existence near its parents.
How do you breed a mule in Minecraft?
To breed a mule in Minecraft, you’ll need a tame donkey and a tame horse. Then, you can feed them a Golden Apple or Golden Carrot, and they’ll breed, producing a mule.
However, there are no advantages to breeding a mule. Like in real life, they’re sterile and can’t reproduce. Otherwise, they function like a horse or donkey.
How to craft Golden Apples and Golden Carrots
You’ll need Golden Apples and Golden Carrots to breed horses and donkeys in Minecraft. You can find these regularly in treasure chests, but it’s more reliable to just craft them using these recipes:
- Golden Apple: One apple in the center surrounded by 8x Gold Bars
- Golden Carrot: One carrot in the center surrounded by eight gold nuggets.
As you can see, of the two items, the cheapest to craft is the Golden Carrot. Since both items are functionally the same when it comes to breeding, there’s no sense in spending more resources than you must. Also, Enchanted Gold Apples can also be used to breed, but that’s an even bigger waste.
