Tacking-Up & Riding

Taming

~~Horses need to be tamed in order to be interacted with, until that time a player cannot:~~

~~Brush or interact with desensitisation items to gain affinity~~

~~Access the inventory of a horse (GUI)~~

~~Equip any accessories or tack~~

~~Ride the horse~~

To tame a 'wild' horse you must ride it until it no longer refuses the attempts. A horse will either rear or buck when refusing an attempt to tame them; throwing the player off in the process. Rearing is harmless, whereas bucking can cause significant damage to both player and nearby entities if within their damage radius.

~~If successfully tamed after one or more riding attempts, the horse will emit hearty particles and the horse inventory will become accessible (E) to equip tack.~~

A frightened and bucking horse can harm nearby entities and players. Nearby horses may kick out if harmed, and can initiate a fatal 'kick-off'. It is recommended you tame wild horses in a controlled area such as an arena or roundpen.

Tacking Up

Horses have an inventory (GUI) for equipping tack and viewing their current needs and skills. Access a horse's inventory by shift + right-clicking the horse - ideally with an empty hand as some items have a shift + right click functionality.

The slots allow riders to equip a Halter or Bridle, Blanket, Saddle, Girth Strap, Breast Collar, Leg Wraps, Horse Armor or Pasture Blanket, and Saddlebag. Some of these items are required to ride the horse:

Without a bridle and saddle a rider will not be able to steer (control) the horse
Without a girth both rider and saddle will fall off the horse within a few seconds

Much like in real life, tack needs to be equipped in a logical order; bridle first, blanket, saddle then girth. Breastcollar and wraps are optional. If the horse is already wearing one of these item types, you can 'hotswap' it out with another version by shift + right-clicking the horse with that item in hand without having to open the GUI.

A horse's inventory cannot be accessed while they are sleeping. Right-click with a bridle in hand (or shift + right-click if they are wearing a halter) to equip it; this will wake the horse up if you need to interact with them overnight.

Tack dependencies (such as saddles requiring blankets) are a configurable value and can be adjusted in the server config.

Shown: A Horse wearing adventure tack and a saddlebag.

Riding

Right-click a tacked horse to mount it. If properly equipped, you can steer the horse with the standard directional controls (WASD) and mouse, jump with spacebar or dismount by pressing shift.

Horses have a ~~variety~~gaits ~~of gaits, these~~which are patterns of movement that occur at different ~~speeds.~~speeds and rhythms. In SWEM, horses have 5 different gaits; walk, trot, canter, extended canter and gallop. On first mounting the horse, they will always start at a walk. To increase the gait, press H. To decrease once more, press G. Each use will change the current gait by one level up, or one level down.

Gait	Speed	Universal	Notes
Walk	3bps	Yes	A horse that is starving or in exsiccosis can only walk.
Trot	5bps	Yes	---
Canter	11bps	Yes	A horse that is malnourished or dehydrated can only go up to a canter.
Extended Canter	13-17bps	No	A horse that is malnourished or dehydrated (or worse) cannot ext. canter.
Gallop	13-27bps	No	Gallop can be used for a set amount of time, dependent on speed level. It has a cooldown after use, during which time the horse cannot gallop.
Swimming	N/A	Yes	Horses will swim when the water depth is greater than 1 Block Will swim even if dismounted - can be remounted Will not change gaits - speed level has no bearing on swimming Will not take drowning damage if submersed underwater Will require a 1 block step up out of the water

Universal speed refers to a gait that is unaffected by the speed level. This is implemented to allow players to ride together (trails, team sports) on servers regardless of their horse's skills.

Dual Riding
Two players can ride a horse if the horse settings are set to all or trusted, which requires the player to be set as trusted via commands. When the primary rider dismounts, the secondary rider will take control of the horse.

Carrying Entities

Ctrl + Right Click is the default keybind, if you set a different key for sprinting you would use [sprint key] + right click.

A player can place a passive entity, such as livestock or villagers, on the back of their horse. To place an entity on a horse, the rider must be mounted and looking at the entity - press (default) Ctrl + Right-click to mount the animal on the back of a horse. To dismount an entity from your horse, stand on the ground and look at the entity again, repeat the same process (ctrl+RMB).

~~Ctrl + Right Click is the default keybind, if you set a different key for sprinting you would use [sprint key] + right click.~~

Frost & Lava Walk

Lag and chunkloading can delay ice/magma spreading and drop the horse into water/lava. Moving slower may help.

Horses can safely be ridden across water and even lava if wearing horse armor of a specific tier or higher. For Frost Walker, gold tier horse armor must be used, which creates a layer of ice underneath them at the same y-level they were on if water is present. For Lava Walk, diamond tier horse armor must be used, which creates a layer of magma underneath them at the same y-level they were on if lava is present. Horses wearing diamond tier armor will take no damage from lava even if submerged, and the armor does not deteriorate in condition.

~~It is~~ ~~highly~~ ~~recommended to use trot when riding across water or lava. Lag spikes during chunk loading can cause the ice/magma layer to load slower and drop both rider and horse into the water/lava around them.~~

Leading

Horses can be led using a lead, or lead and anchor. The leading mechanics are the same as Minecraft - SWEM plans to overhaul leadrope options and leading AI in future.

Cross Ties
Horses can be cross tied between two hitching posts, fences or ring hitches. Attach the horse to one connection as normal, take a second lead and use on the horse. Connect to the second hitching point and the horse will be pulled into a somewhat central position between both connections. On right clicking either connection, both leads will be disconnected and dropped at the horse's feet.

Horses cannot be lunged - this feature will be implemented in future. Any marketing or RRP videos appearing to demonstrate feature this will have used a horse with unrendered tack and an invisible rider (multiplayer server).

Gallery

Shown: A Horse wearing adventure tack and a saddlebag.

Known Issues

If you find an issue, please report it to our bugs channel on Discord. We ask that you look to see if your issue was reported first!

[-] ~~1.18.2-1.2.7~~Horses ~~Cross~~sink ~~ties~~in lava (if magma walk lags) difficult to get out as they do not ~~render~~swim, ~~second~~but ~~lead and do~~will not ~~pull~~die ~~the~~in ~~horse~~diamond+ ~~into the center of connections.~~armor.
[~] Horses get stuck swimming and cannot be led or lifted out. Remove the water with sponge to break the animation.
[~] Horses do not reset to walking if the horse is not brought to a full step and steps up a gait when next changed.
[~] Mounted entities occasionally get stuck on the back of a horse and cannot be dismounted.

Changelog

View Changes

This is not a complete list of version changes / fixes. It is a changelog of relevant wiki-related version information.

MC Version	Release	Notes
1.18.2	1.18.2-1.3.0 [Beta]	[Bug Fix] Cross ties render both leads.

Other Information

Continue reading this chapter to learn more about our Horses!