How To Get a Saddle in Minecraft? A Practical Guide

Saddles are essential for riding certain animals in Minecraft, allowing new ways to explore and traverse the world. Regardless of how you are planning on using a saddle, this article will walk you through every method to get a saddle in Minecraft, explain its uses, and share useful tips. Let’s dig into the details.

What Is a Saddle, and How Is It Used?

A saddle is an item that allows players to ride and control horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, and striders. To use a saddle, equip it in your hand and right-click on the mob you want to ride. Once saddled, you can mount and control the animal (note: controlling pigs and striders requires additional items like a carrot on a stick or warped fungus on a stick).

If you are asking yourself how do you make a saddle in Minecraft, you should know that they cannot be crafted at a crafting table or a smithing table. Instead, you'll have to get them through exploration, trading, or luck-based methods like mob drops. Below, you'll discover all the methods to get a saddle, so you can choose an approach that suits your playstyle.

How to Get a Saddle in Minecraft

Fishing for Treasure

Fishing offers a peaceful and passive method to acquire saddles, though the chance of catching one is relatively low, around 0.8% per catch. Using a fishing rod enchanted with Luck of the Sea significantly increases your odds of reeling in treasure items like saddles. For better efficiency, many players build automated or AFK fishing farms that continuously gather treasure over time, making it a reliable long-term strategy for collecting saddles and other valuable items.

Trading with Villagers and Wandering Traders

Trading is one of the most dependable ways to secure a saddle. Master-level Leatherworker villagers consistently offer saddles in exchange for six emeralds. In the Java Edition of Minecraft, this trade is guaranteed once the villager reaches master level. In Bedrock Edition, the saddle trade appears about half the time, so you may need to refresh trades by curing or leveling villagers. Setting up a villager trading hall and ensuring villagers have access to their workstations can help you quickly level them up and access this trade.

Hunting Specific Mobs

Certain mobs in Minecraft drop saddles upon defeat, providing another reliable source. Ravagers, the large, hostile mobs that spawn during raids, always drop a saddle when killed, making raids a consistent way to obtain saddles if you are prepared for combat. Striders, which spawn in the Nether, sometimes appear with zombified piglins riding them; these saddled striders drop their saddles when killed. It’s important to note that zombie horses do not spawn naturally in the game and do not drop saddles, and other mobs like drowned or strays do not drop saddles either.

Exploring Chests in Structures

Saddles are commonly found as loot in chests scattered throughout many naturally generated structures across Minecraft’s dimensions. Some of the best locations to search include Nether Fortresses, which have one of the highest chances of containing saddles, Desert Temples, Strongholds, Dungeons, Bastion Remnants (especially Hoglin Stables), Ancient Cities, Jungle Temples, Villages (notably Weaponsmith, Tanner, and Savanna houses), and End Cities. Thorough exploration of these areas greatly increases your chances of finding saddles without combat or trading.

Creative Uses for a Saddle

Once you’ve secured a saddle, the possibilities in Minecraft expand. Here are a few fun and creative ways to use it:

Ride a Pig

A saddle enables you to have fun by riding a pig, and you can ride the pig by attaching its saddle and using a carrot stick to control its movements. Pigs move more slowly than horses, yet pig riding adds unique amusement to your explorations. making nearby areas more exciting and fun to explore. The experience of transporting a pig on a saddle creates comedic moments while traversing both farmland terrain and your home base grounds.

Tether and Control Mobs

Saddles also allow you to ride certain mobs, like horses and striders, while leads can be used to tether and control animals such as llamas and horses. While saddles and leads operate independently, each serves as a helpful tool for interacting with mobs. Using them together can make transporting or managing your animals much easier and more efficient in your gameplay.

Race or Explore

If you're in the mood for some fun challenges, saddles enable activities like racing or exploration. You can create custom horse tracks to host races with friends or use your saddled mob to explore new terrain. Riding a saddled horse or pig into caves or across vast landscapes is not only adventurous but also adds a layer of excitement and convenience to your journeys.

Tips for Efficient Saddle Hunting

Prioritize Fishing

With a fishing rod enchanted by Luck of the Sea III, you boost your saddle-catching odds from the existing 0.8% base probability. Automated fishing farms enable you to maximize your efficiency. You can use automated saddle farms to maximize your efficiency, because they function as an efficient saddle collection method that allows you to get this item steadily and reliably.

Check Villages Daily

Master-level Leatherworker villagers offer saddles in exchange for emeralds. Since their trades refresh every 24 in-game hours, visiting villages regularly and ensuring these villagers have access to their workstations is essential for keeping the trade options available. By maintaining consistent contact with leatherworkers, you can turn villages into reliable sources for obtaining saddles.

Explore Loot Chests

Saddles frequently appear in loot chests located within naturally generated structures. Places such as Nether Fortresses, Desert Temples, Dungeons, Bastion Remnants (especially Hoglin Stables), Jungle Temples, Strongholds, and certain village houses are prime spots to explore. By thoroughly searching these locations, your chances of finding saddles will increase dramatically.

Hunt Ravagers

Saddles are always dropped by Ravagers during raids before they are defeated. Participating in raids or setting up a farm specifically designed to spawn and defeat ravagers can provide a consistent, reliable source of saddles for your adventures. A saddle collection with this approach brings dynamic challenges to the game.

Use Enchanted Tools Wisely

While Silk Touch isn’t necessary for safely collecting loot chests, using other enchanted tools can streamline your exploration and mob farming efforts. Tools with enchantments such as Efficiency or Unbreaking can help speed up tasks, allowing you to focus more on traversing dangerous locations and farming mobs for resources like saddles.

Conclusion

While crafting a saddle is impossible in vanilla Minecraft, the hunt makes the reward feel earned. Whether you prefer the thrill of the hunt, the patience of fishing, or the strategy of trading, there’s a method here for everyone. Once you’ve got your saddle, experiment with mounts and vehicles to make your gameplay uniquely yours.