How to Find a Saddle in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: May 21, 2022 References

Saddles are used to ride horses, mules, and pigs in the game of Minecraft. Unlike most things in Minecraft though, if you need a saddle, you won't be able to craft one. Instead, you'll need to find it. If you're well-equipped, you can find saddles in the various chests located in dungeons and temples. If you're loaded with loot, trading with villagers for emeralds can net you a saddle as a trade offer. Avid fishers have a small chance of hooking a saddle. For those that need a saddle immediately, a few simple cheats can provide one in an instant.

Part 1

Part 1 of 5:

Finding a Saddle in Chests

1
Look for rare chests on your adventures. Saddles cannot be crafted, so one of the best ways to find one is to open every chest you come across.^{[1]
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Research source} Saddles have a small chance of appearing in most chests that you find. You'll have more luck in certain areas of the world.^{[2]
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2
Locate a dungeon. You'll have the best chance finding a saddle in the dungeons scattered underground. Chests in dungeons have a 54% chance of spawning a saddle as loot. You'll know you're in a dungeon by the cobblestone + mossy stone walls, floors, and ceilings. They typically have a zombie, skeleton, or spider spawner, and one or two chests. It is possible, but very rare, to find a dungeon without a chest. With two chests, the chances are good that you'll find a saddle in one of them.
- Dungeons can occur anywhere in the overworld.
- The 29% spawn rate for saddles as of Minecraft 1.10
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3
Head to the Nether and find a Nether fortress. Nether fortresses are another spot where saddles have a higher chance of spawning in chests. To access the Nether, you'll need to build a Nether portal frame using obsidian blocks. See Make a Nether Portal in Minecraft for detailed instructions. The Nether is a dangerous place, so make sure you bring strong gear and lots of supplies.
- You'll have a 40% chance of finding a saddle in Nether fortress chests. This will go down to 35% in 1.9.
4
Find a desert temple. These structures appear in the desert biome, and the floor of the temple structure will always be at Y:64. This means that the temple may be partially or completely covered by sand.
- When you find the temple, look for the blue clay block in the centre of the floor. Digging this out will expose the secret chamber containing four chests. Each of these chests has a 15% chance of spawning a saddle, but this will go up to 24% in 1.9. This means you'll be almost guaranteed to find a saddle from the four chests.
- Watch out for the TNT booby trap when you drop into the secret chamber. Don't drop anything else first to set off the pressure plate, as all the loot will explode. Break the pressure plate to disarm the trap.
5
Seek out a village blacksmith. Villages have a fairly high chances of spawning a blacksmith. Blacksmith's have a chest in their building, and there's a 16% chance of finding a saddle inside.
- Try to find a village as it provides access to free items.^{[3]
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- You can find chests filled with random items all around a village.^{[4]
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- Besides this, the villagers offer benefits through trade. You can exchange materials that you find throughout the game for different items depending on the specialization of the villager.^{[5]
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6
Look in jungle temples and abandoned mineshafts. These two locations spawn chests that can contain the saddle, but your chances are at around 15% for each of these locations' chests. The jungle temple has two chests protected by a variety of booby traps, while abandoned mineshafts may have multiple minecart chests, depending on the size of the mineshaft.
- In 1.9, saddles will no longer spawn in abandoned mineshafts.

Part 2

Part 2 of 5:

Trading for a Saddle

1
Find a leatherworker villager to trade with. If you're playing the computer or console versions of Minecraft, you can trade items for emeralds, and vice versa, with villagers you find in villages throughout the world. By completing available trades, you'll open up additional trade opportunities. The leatherworker villager (white apron) can trade you a saddle as the third tier trade option.
- Trading is not available in Minecraft PE.
2
Obtain some emeralds. You'll need anywhere from 9-16 emeralds to unlock the ability to buy the saddle, plus 8-10 more emeralds to purchase the saddle itself. Emeralds can be found while mining, obtained from chests, or traded for with other villagers. See Find Emeralds in Minecraft for tips on finding emeralds while mining.
3
Open the trading window with the leatherworker. Once you have some emeralds, right-click on the leatherworker to open the trade window.
4
Use 2-4 emeralds to purchase the leather pants. Close the trading window after making the trade. This will advance the leatherworker to the next trading tier.
5
Open the trading window again and purchase the leather tunic. This will set you back 7-12 emeralds. Make sure to close the Trading window again to advance to the next tier.
6
Open the trading window a third time to see the saddle. The leatherworker should now have the saddle available for 8-10 emeralds. Purchase the saddle if you have enough emeralds.

Part 3

Part 3 of 5:

Fishing for a Saddle

1
Keep an eye out for saddles while fishing. The chances are low (less than 1%), but it is possible to reel in a saddle while you're fishing. You probably don't want to make this your primary method of obtaining a saddle, but if you fish a lot you may come across one.
2
Craft a fishing rod. You can make a simple fishing rod from three sticks and two pieces of string. Sticks can be crafted from wood Planks, and string can be obtained from cobwebs and Spiders.
- Place the three sticks diagonally from the bottom-left of the crafting grid to the top-right. Place the two pieces of string in the other two slots of the right column.
3
Approach any body of water. You can fish out of any water, and the results will not change depending on where you are. However, casting in water 1-2 blocks deep will result in your fishing rod losing extra durability. Fish in deeper water, if possible.
4
Cast your line. Use your fishing rod to cast your line out to the water. Watch the bobber closely to determine when to reel in.
5
Reel the line in when the bobber dips underwater. This indicates that you've caught something. Reeling in at the right moment will cause your catch to come flying through the air towards you.
- You will see a line of bubbles approaching your rod before it sinks below.
6
Enchant your fishing rod with Luck of the Sea. This enchantment increases your chances of finding treasure while fishing. The third level of this enchantment will give you a 1.77% chance of getting the saddle, up from 0.84%.
- Use the Lure enchantment if you are trying to get the saddle or other treasure, as this will higher your chances.
- See Make an Enchantment Table in Minecraft for more details on the enchanting process.

Part 4

Part 4 of 5:

Cheating to Get a Saddle

1
Enable cheats. In order to access these options, you'll need to have cheats enabled for your world. There are two ways you can enable cheats, depending on if you've created your world yet or not:^{[6]
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- When creating a new world, you can enable cheats from the Create World menu.
- If you've already created your world, open the Pause menu and select "Open to LAN." Toggle "Allow Cheats" ON.
2
Switch your game mode to Creative for easy access to a saddle. The easiest way to cheat and obtain a saddle is to simply open your world in Creative mode and place a saddle next to your player.
- To switch, open your chat window (T) and type /gamemode c. You can then select the saddle from the list of available items and place it in the world. When you switch back to survival (/gamemode s), you can pick up the saddle and use it.
3
Give yourself a saddle with commands. You can use console commands to spawn a saddle in your inventory. Open the chat window by pressing T and type the following command to receive a single saddle:
- /give playername saddle 1.
4
Summon a tamed horse with a saddle. If you don't want to go through the process of finding a horse to tame, you can use cheats to spawn a horse complete with a saddle. Open the chat window by pressing T and type the following command:^{[7]
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- /summon EntityHorse ~ ~ ~ {Tame:1,SaddleItem:{id:329,Count:1}}

Part 5

Part 5 of 5:

Using a Saddle

1
Tame a wild horse by approaching it and using it with an empty hand. You will climb on top of it, and will likely be thrown off. After a few attempts, it will allow you to remain on it and will give off heart animations.
2
Open your inventory while on the horse. Make sure that you have the saddle available to use.
3
Place a saddle in the saddle slot next to the image of the horse. You can now ride around on the horse, using the same controls you use to move normally. Horses can charge a jump by pressing and holding the Jump button.
4
Remove the saddle. To remove a horse's saddle, select the horse and take it out of their inventory.
5
Saddle a pig. You're not stuck just riding horses! You can saddle pigs and ride them around the world:
- While holding the saddle, Use the pig you wish to wear it. The saddle will now be attached to the pig permanently.
- Control the saddled pig with a carrot on a stick. After a while, the pig will run five blocks per second.
- You can't remove a saddle from a pig without killing it.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I know it's a leatherworker?

Community Answer

Keep looking through the village until you find a villager with brown clothes and a white smock, then click on the villager. If it says "leatherworker" at the top, you found one.
Question

How do I find a village?

Community Answer

Before the addition of a lot of new biomes, villages were only in the plains and desert biomes. Now they are in more biomes, so look in plains, deserts and any other biomes where they generate.
Question

How many emeralds do I need for the saddle?

Community Answer

The price spawns at random. It is normally about 3 to 7 emeralds.