How to make a saddle in Minecraft (and where to find one)
Published on 27 October 2026
How to make a saddle in Minecraft: put three leather and one iron ingot on a crafting table, with one leather in the top middle and leather, iron ingot, leather in the row below. Saddles have been craftable since Java 1.21.6 and Bedrock 1.21.90, so older guides that say “you can’t craft a saddle” are out of date. Below: the recipe, where to find saddles, which animals take one, how to take it off again and how a harness differs. Checked against the game data of Java 26.3 on 27 October 2026.
Can you craft a saddle in Minecraft?
Yes. For most of Minecraft’s history saddles could only be found, but the Chase the Skies update of June 2025 added a recipe. At the same time Mojang removed saddles from some chests, such as dungeons, ancient cities, desert and jungle temples and stronghold altars. In Java 26.3 and Bedrock you craft them, buy them or find them elsewhere.
How to make a saddle in Minecraft: the recipe
| Left | Middle | Right |
|---|---|---|
| Empty | Leather | Empty |
| Leather | Iron ingot | Leather |
The recipe takes two rows of the grid; which two doesn’t matter. You need:
- Three leather. Cows, mooshrooms, horses, donkeys, mules, llamas and hoglins drop it. Four rabbit hides also make one leather.
- One iron ingot. Smelt raw iron in a furnace, or collect it from an iron farm.
A small cow farm gives you enough leather for saddles for the whole group.
Where do you find saddles?
Don’t feel like crafting? Saddles still turn up in plenty of places in Java 26.3:
- Ravagers: every ravager drops a saddle when it dies. You meet them during raids.
- Leatherworkers: a master leatherworker can sell saddles for six emeralds.
- Fishing: a saddle is one of the treasure catches.
- Village chests: in the tannery, the weaponsmith and savanna houses.
- Nether and End: in Nether fortress chests, bastion hoglin stables and End city chests.
- Abandoned camps: the camps added in 26.3 can hold saddles in their chests.
Which animals can you saddle?
| Animal | What you need first | How you steer |
|---|---|---|
| Horse, donkey, mule | Tame it by riding it | Walk and look |
| Skeleton horse, zombie horse | It has to be tame | Walk and look |
| Camel, camel husk | Nothing | Walk and look |
| Nautilus, zombie nautilus | Tame it | Swim and look |
| Pig | Nothing | Carrot on a stick |
| Strider | Nothing | Warped fungus on a stick |
To put a saddle on, use it on the animal, or open the animal’s inventory while you ride it (or sneak and use it) and place the saddle in the saddle slot. Pigs and striders have no inventory, so for them you use the saddle directly. A dispenser can put a saddle on an animal too. How to tame and breed horses is in how to tame a horse in Minecraft.
A saddled animal never despawns. While you ride it, its health shows in place of your hunger bar.
Steering a pig or a strider
A saddled pig or strider walks where it wants, unless you hold the right stick:
- Carrot on a stick: a fishing rod with a carrot below it on a crafting table. Hold it and the pig follows the carrot. Press use to give the pig a short speed boost, which costs 7 of its 25 durability points in Java.
- Warped fungus on a stick: a fishing rod with a warped fungus below it. This steers a strider, which walks safely across lava in the Nether.
A strider ridden by a zombified piglin spawns with a saddle on, and that saddle always drops when you defeat the strider. A free saddle, if you don’t mind a trip across the lava.
How do you take a saddle off?
- Shears: use shears on any saddled animal and the saddle drops. This works on every animal in the table, and since 1.21.6 it’s the only safe way for pigs and striders.
- The inventory: for horses, donkeys, mules, camels and nautiluses you can also drag the saddle out of the saddle slot while you ride.
A saddle keeps its name when it comes off. Saddles can’t be enchanted in Survival.
Saddles and harnesses: the difference
The happy ghast, the large friendly ghast you can ride since 1.21.6, doesn’t take a saddle. It needs a harness. You craft a harness from three leather in the top row and glass, wool, glass in the row below. The wool decides the colour, and you can dye a harness later. With a harness, up to four players ride one happy ghast; the first to climb on steers. Saddles and harnesses aren’t interchangeable: a saddle won’t go on a ghast and a harness won’t fit a horse.
Saddles on a server
On a shared world, mounts are great for long journeys between bases. Craft a few saddles for the group, or set up a leatherworker who sells them. A trading hall of villagers is easiest to build with a group; how to get more villagers is in how to breed villagers. Give your horse a name, so everyone knows whose it is.
Riding out with your friends? On your own Minecraft server your world, stables and horses stay online, even when you log off. From €4.95 a month. See the Minecraft server plans.
