How to craft a saddle in Minecraft

      You've tamed a horse in Minecraft, but it still has a mind of its own and refuses to follow you. While you can confine it within a fenced area, riding it hasn't gone as you expected. Horses are one of the fastest modes of travel aside from flying, but controlling your mount requires a saddle. In the past, crafting a saddle wasn’t possible, and you had to obtain it through other means such as trading, exploring, or fishing. However, after many years, the ability to craft a saddle has finally arrived, and we’ll explain how to do it.

      **How to Craft a Saddle**

      As of May 2025, crafting a saddle in Minecraft is currently available only in the snapshot testing version of the game, with plans for inclusion in the full game this summer. Here’s how to craft a saddle:

      Step 1: Gather three pieces of leather.

      Step 2: Obtain one iron ingot.

      Step 3: At a crafting table, place the iron ingot in the middle square at the bottom, and arrange the three pieces of leather around it as illustrated in the image above.

      Step 4: Collect the saddle from the output area.

      Step 5: You can now equip your saddle on any compatible animal. Additionally, there’s a new feature that allows you to remove a saddle from a pig without needing to kill it. If you have shears, you can use them on the pig to safely retrieve the saddle and attach it to another mount.

      **How to Trade for a Saddle**

      While crafting is the easiest method to obtain a saddle, you can also get one through trading.

      Step 1: Locate a village and find the leatherworker.

      Step 2: You’ll need to level up the villager, as it won’t offer a saddle until it reaches Level 3. This can be done by trading emeralds, leather, rabbit hide, flint, and other items the villager requires.

      Step 3: When the leatherworker reaches Level 5 (Master), your chances of getting a saddle increase to 50%.

      **How to Find Saddles in Chests**

      If you’d rather not craft a saddle or invest time in leveling up a leatherworker, another option is to seek out a saddle in a chest. Fortunately, there are various locations to check, though finding a saddle isn’t guaranteed with each chest. Below are the locations along with the odds of finding a saddle in percentages:

      - Abandoned mineshafts (percentage unknown)

      - Desert temples (23.5%)

      - Dungeons (27.9%)

      - End City (13.3%)

      - Jungle temples (12.9%)

      - Nether Fortress (35.3%)

      - Strongholds (2.5%)

      **How to Get a Saddle from Fishing**

      This is the least likely method to acquire a saddle, with only a 0.8% chance. Just fish as you normally would for fish, and hope to reel in a saddle.

      **How to Use a Saddle**

      You didn't go through all this effort just for decoration. Equip that saddle on a horse and let’s ride!

      Step 1: Ensure your hands are empty and interact with the horse.

      Step 2: The horse might try to buck you off. If it does, repeat step 1 until it calms down.

      Step 3: While on the horse, open your inventory. You should see the horse’s inventory alongside yours. Drag the saddle from your inventory into the top square with the gray saddle icon. Once applied, the horse icon will change.

      Now that you’ve saddled the horse, you can steer it wherever you wish.