Horses have always captured the imagination with their speed, beauty and elegance.
So it’s no wonder they’re loved by millions around the world.
And yes, I’m counting virtual horses in there too!
So why not bring the romance of these creatures into Minecraft? We get ‘em by default, but this selection of mods will certainly add onto the vanilla game in more ways than one.
For those who dislike the simplified horse, donkey, and mule models and textures introduced in the 1.13 update, here’s a solution.
Familiar Horses restores the original designs of all three of these mob types, as well as zombie horses and skeleton horses. This way they’ll go back to the models and textures used prior to the Update Aquatic.
The mod also restores the original horse armor models with updated textures, which fit in better with the modern textures introduced in 1.14 – as well as an improved horse-riding HUD.
If you’re longing for something a bit different from the same old saddles and horse armor, look no further.
For the uninitiated, tack is the gear you use to ride or handle a horse.
It includes things like saddles, bridles, stirrups, and reins.
Horse Tack (the mod) adds six new varieties of tack for you to dress your horse in, including styles related to Racing, Western, English, Jumping, Halters, and basic Riding Saddle Pads types.
Each of those are also available in a range of 16 colors.
Plus with this mod installed you even get a cart harness for working horses, as well as a selection of over 90 horse blankets to keep your horses warm at night.
So here’s a mod that’s definitely a bit… different.
It adds new magical alternatives onto regular Minecraft horses. So you can turn them into a variety of animals, such as Unicorn, a Pegasus, Nightmare, Destrier, Hippocamp, Hippogriff, Kirin, and a Reindeer.
The mod also adds a range of new items including magic wands, horseshoes, horse helms, and Pegasus wingtips. Those you can actually equip to give your enchanted mount new abilities!
You’ll even get a brand spankin’ new (and surprisingly sophisticated) genetics system, which lets you breed your magical horses, both with each other and with normal Minecraft mounts.
This custom DNA system includes the potential for both dominant and recessive genes, and it enables your horses to have a chance of passing their unique traits onto their children.
The Realistic Horse Genetics may be a more down-to-earth horse breeding mod to try out.
It gives you the ability to breed your horses according to a wide range of traits, including color, speed, health, jump height, and size, with all traits determined by whether they’re dominant or recessive.
The genetics system aims to be as scientifically accurate as possible – with mod creator Sekelsta claiming that the mod includes “chromosome linkage” and genetic testing designed to reflect what’s actually testable in real life.
Crazy, right?
Plus that’s not all!
This mod adds in a handful of other features too, including peaceful mobs (such as villagers) having the ability to ride horses themselves.
And with this installed, foals gradually grow into adult horses, rather than seemingly instantaneously adultifying like we get in vanilla Minecraft.
Despite the name, this mod doesn’t actually turn animals into bicycles.
What it does do though is make every single animal in Minecraft which couldn’t previously be ridden, rideable.
Yes, even the chicken.
The mod also adds a range of new pop culture inspired rideable mounts, including 54 different My Little Ponies, a Final Fantasy Chocobo, a giant version of Notch’s head, plus some dinosaurs, polar bears, and a giant hovering flower.
So this might be more of a “mount mod” than anything, but it’s perfect if you’re looking to upgrade the horses you’re usually riding.
Maybe you lost track of where you left them, or maybe they simply wandered off, still dressed in their expensive custom horse armor.
This mod offers a lightweight horse-finding feature that helps negligent horse owners keep track of their noble steeds.
You get the ability to summon your horse to your side at the click of a button. Easy!
Simply crouch and right click to select your horse, and then teleport them to you with another right click.
However, if you’re not a horse person (and if so, why are you reading this article then?) then you’ll be happy to know this mod can also be used to summon any other tamed animal you feel like.
Animania is a pretty broad-reaching add-on to Minecraft.
It significantly expands the number of animals in the game, creating new breeds of existing passive mobs, and adding several entirely new mobs too.
The mod also adds new items and functionality to the game, giving animals more realistic behaviors and expanding the many ways you can interact with those lovable creatures.
One fun new addition introduced here is the draft horse: a more sturdy cousin to the standard vanilla horse, which comes in six different varieties. And it can be used to pull the horse carts included with this mod.
You’ll even notice this includes extra items that are perfect to enhance your Minecraft stable, including troughs that your horses can eat and drink from, and riding crops, which you can use to encourage your horse to go faster.
I can already imagine people starting their own Minecraft horse races…
Oliver Cuenca is a freelance journalist who currently lives in sunny-ish southwest England. A lifelong PC gamer and a dedicated Minecrafter since the days when you couldn’t put stairs upside down, he’s had the same Minecraft world for eight years.
