Better Horses and other horse mods for Minecraft

Vanilla Minecraft horses are fast, but they are fussy to breed, they hide their stats, and they wander off the moment you leave them. Horse mods fix that, and the one most people search for by name is Better Horses. This page covers the current Better Horses and three other horse mods that are still updated for today’s Minecraft versions.

In November 2014 we posted “Better Horses Mod 1.7.2/1.7.10”. That mod promised “smoother more horse-like animations”, and it needed AnimationAPI and Minecraft Forge. We could not find an official page for it in 2026, so we cannot say who made it or link a download. The Better Horses below is a different, newer mod.

Nobody here has played these mods for this update. Every fact comes from the official project pages on Modrinth and CurseForge, checked on October 16, 2026.

Icy’s Better Horses

Icy’s Better Horses, by Icywhenhot, is the active mod with that name. On Modrinth and CurseForge it is listed simply as “Better Horses”, and the project calls itself “a complete overhaul of horse progression, travel, breeding, ownership, and mounted gameplay”. It is a big mod, not a small tweak: it replaces the horse models, adds items and changes how you ride.

Breeds and classes

Every horse belongs to one of five classes. The class sets its base speed, health and jump, and how well it fights. There are fifteen real breeds, such as the Clydesdale, Percheron, Icelandic, Mustang and Morgan, and each one has its own ability. The Percheron ignores slowdown from soul sand, cobwebs and honey blocks. The Morgan bonds twice as fast as other horses.

Breeding uses genetics. Horses have a gender, they inherit stats and coats from their parents, breeds can mix, and each breed spawns in its own biomes. Horses already in an old world get a breed from the biome they stand in.

Bond, whistle and ownership

A tamed horse is yours for good and carries a Bond stat from 0 to 100. Each 20 points of Bond adds 15% speed and jump, up to 75% at full Bond. Bond 40 and Bond 100 also upgrade the breed’s ability.

• Whistle. Within 32 blocks your horse walks to you. Farther away, it teleports to you.
• Commands. A radial menu gives Follow, Stay, Wander, Set Home and Return Home.
• Ownership. Other players get bucked off and cannot take the saddle or the gear. They can still ride as a passenger behind you, and you can mark trusted players. Servers can turn these rules off.

Riding

The walk-cycle key switches between four gaits:

Smaller fixes come with it. Double-tap W to keep riding forward. Horses float and swim instead of sinking, push through leaves and step up small ledges. Look down and the horse fades out so you can see the ground. You mine at normal speed from the saddle. Draft horses carry two riders and a chest. There is also mounted combat with a charge meter, which one config switch turns off.

Versions and requirements

Older builds also exist for Fabric 26.2 and 26.1.2 and NeoForge 26.1.2. The project page says not every older version is still maintained.

• Dependencies: GeckoLib and Modonomicon. On Minecraft 1.20.1, Patchouli replaces Modonomicon.
• Server: yes. The mod adds entities, items and world data, so it “must be installed on both the client and server”.
• Config: config/icys-better-horses.json has ten feature switches. A switched-off item stays in the world but does nothing, so existing saves do not break. Add Cloth Config (plus Mod Menu on Fabric) to change settings in game.

Two smaller mods use the same name. Better Horses by ryankshah adds chests on horses, two riders and speed settings for Minecraft 1.21.1 only. Better Horses by kotajacob changes the breeding formula on Fabric 1.18.1. Neither has had an update since March 2025.

Other horse mods for Minecraft

If a full overhaul is more than you want, these three keep vanilla horses and fix one thing each.

Horseman

Horseman, by mortuusars, is a long list of small fixes. Ride up to a fence with a lead in the horse’s new lead slot and one click ties the horse up. The horse stays near where you left it, within 16 blocks by default. A copper horn calls your bound horse from anywhere (Minecraft 1.21 and newer). Horses fit in boats, step 10% higher, get stuck on leaves less often, and you mine at full speed while mounted. Everything is configurable. Horseman also took over Horse Buff: that mod is archived, and its page says its “entire feature-set can be found in HorseMan 1.3.0+”. On Fabric it needs Fabric API and Forge Config API Port.

Horse Expert

Horse Expert, by Fuzs, answers the breeding question: how good is this horse? Craft a monocle, wear it and look at a horse to see its stats. By default the horse must be tamed first, which you can change in the config. It works on llamas too. It needs Puzzles Lib on every loader, plus Fabric API and Forge Config API Port on Fabric.

Horse Stats Vanilla

Horse Stats Vanilla, by TeaJ4y, does the same job with less. It shows health, speed and jump height in the horse’s inventory screen, “kept simple to match the vanilla style”. It runs on the client only, so it works on servers that do not have it. On Fabric it needs Fabric API, and Mod Menu if you want to change its settings.

Which one should you pick?

• You want horses to be a long-term project, with breeds, bonding and carts: Icy’s Better Horses.
• You like vanilla horses but hate the small annoyances: Horseman.
• You breed for stats and want to see the numbers: Horse Stats Vanilla on a server you do not run, or Horse Expert if a monocle sounds fun.

Icy’s Better Horses and Horseman both change riding and both fade the horse when you look down. The project pages do not say whether they work together, so read both before you put them in one pack.

How to install Better Horses

Our 2014 post had you drop jars into .minecraft/mods by hand. A launcher does that now. These steps use Prism Launcher, which is free, open source and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Our Prism Launcher guide covers the setup in more detail.

1. Install Prism Launcher and sign in with your Microsoft account.
2. Create an instance for a Minecraft version from the table above, for example Fabric 26.3 or NeoForge 1.21.1.
3. Select the instance, click Edit, open the Version tab and add the matching loader.
4. Open the Mods tab, click Download Mods and search for “Icy’s Better Horses”.
5. Add GeckoLib and Modonomicon too, or Patchouli on 1.20.1, if Prism does not add them for you. On Fabric, add Cloth Config and Mod Menu if you want the in-game settings.
6. Click OK and launch the game. Open the in-game guidebook for the breed list and every item.
7. On a server, copy the same mod files into the server’s mods folder.

Sources

• Icy’s Better Horses on Modrinth and on CurseForge
• Icy’s Better Horses wiki: breeds
• Horseman on Modrinth and Horse Buff on Modrinth
• Horse Expert on Modrinth
• Horse Stats Vanilla on Modrinth
• Prism Launcher wiki: Downloading mods