How to Make a Saddle in Minecraft

Exploring the diverse biomes in Minecraft on foot might be tiresome in survival mode. So, why not make use of the rideable animals in the game? The only item you must acquire for that is a saddle, which can be used on horses, camels, and even donkeys to make your exploration easier. Thankfully, the new Summer Drop 2025 finally lets players craft saddles instead of searching for them. Want to know the saddle recipe and what you need for it? Well, keep reading to learn how to make a saddle in Minecraft.

Editor’s Note: last updated on August 5, 2025, to add new details and improve readability

What is a Saddle in Minecraft

A saddle is a utility item that allows you to ride friendly Minecraft mobs like horses, donkeys, and others. Moreover, you can use this item to control the mobs you can ride in the game. The saddle’s texture might resemble leather gears in the game. However, it cannot be dyed or given any sort of pattern using the Minecraft armor trims.

With the Minecraft Summer Drop 2025, the saddle can now be crafted and can be obtained from treasures as well.

Items You Need to Craft a Saddle

The crafting recipe for the saddle requires a few simple items found in the Overworld. They are:

• 3 Leather
• 1 Iron Ingot

How to Craft a Saddle in Minecraft

After having found these items, follow the steps below to craft the saddle:

• Make a crafting table and place it on the ground.
• Place the iron ingot at the center of the 3×3 grid.
• Place three leather pieces on the left, right, and top of the iron ingot.

And just like that, you have crafted your first saddle in Minecraft. You can now store this item in your inventory and use it to ride select Minecraft mobs whenever you encounter them.

Other Ways to Get Saddles in Minecraft

Since the ability to craft a saddle is fairly new, there are other ways to get your hands on it. That said, here are all the ways to find a saddle in Minecraft:

1. Looting Chests

You can find a saddle in various chests across all of the game’s dimensions. They often spawn in the following locations:

• Dungeon
• Bastion Remnant (Hoglin Stable)
• End City
• Nether Fortress
• Village (Weaponsmith, Savanna, and Tanner houses)

The chests in Nether Fortress have the highest drop rate of the saddles. So, the next best way to get one might be going straight to the Nether dimension using the Nether portal.

2. By Fishing

Similar to other treasure items, you can catch saddles while fishing in waterbodies. However, note that it has a spawn rate of 0.8%. So, creating an AFK fish farm in Minecraft is recommended for players who aren’t keen on catching it manually. While it will take some time, you will have a lot of other items by the time you catch a saddle.

3. Mob Loot

Another reliable way to find saddles is by killing Striders and Ravagers. The former only comes fitted with a saddle when it spawns with a zombified piglin riding on its back. Whereas the latter always spawns with a saddle, you have to trigger a raid to make them spawn.

You can even make farms for either of these mobs to get loads of Saddles as and when required. Furthermore, if you are playing on the best Minecraft survival servers, you can kill other players’ saddled mobs to obtain their saddles.

4. Trading with Villagers

Being leather-like items, master-level leatherworker villagers in Minecraft make saddles available as tradable items. They sell saddles for six emeralds. This is a guaranteed trade on the Java edition, but Bedrock users will only see it around half of the time. Not to forget, you can quickly set up a villager trading hall to get saddles and emeralds with easy trades.

How to Use Saddle to Ride Minecraft Mobs

Having obtained a saddle, you must be wondering how to use it. So, before using a saddle, let’s have a look at all the mobs you can ride in the game:

• Pigs
• Striders
• Camels
• Horses
• Skeleton Horses
• Donkeys
• Mules

One important note about these mobs is that most of them don’t function the same way. For example, you must tame a horse before using the saddle. Furthermore, mobs like pigs and striders require bait (carrot on a stick or fungus on a stick) to control them even after placing a saddle.

However, if you want to break away from these limitations, the Minecraft ride command will allow you to ride any mob in the game. Not only that, but it also looks rather silly and entertaining. Now, let’s go over the two main ways to equip a saddle onto a mob.

1. Using the Saddle Slot

Mobs like horses, camels, and donkeys have a saddle slot. So, if you want to use this method, follow the steps below:

• First, right-click or use the secondary action key on the mob to start riding it.
• Make sure that you don’t have anything equipped in your hands before riding the mob.
• Once tamed, press the E or dedicated inventory keys to open up your Minecraft inventory.
• You will also see the inventory of that mob. Now, place the saddle in the saddle slot of the mob.

With the saddle in place, you can use your movement keys to make the mob move around. Plus, you can remove the saddle from the inventory slot if you want to get the saddle back.

2. Direct Placement

This is the simplest way to equip a saddle— by placing it on the mob. This method works for every rideable mob in the game, but horses must be tamed before they can be ridden.

With that said, here’s how to directly place a saddle on a Minecraft mob:

• First, find a rideable mob and get in its proximity.
• Next, place the saddle using the right-click or secondary action key while holding it.
• Then, use the right-click again to start riding the saddled mob.

3. Using Dispensers

The last method is unconventional and not ideal, but it apparently works in the game. You can also use a dispenser to put a saddle on your mobs. Here’s how it works:

• Place a dispenser one block above the ground and put a saddle in it.
• Then, get your mob right in front of the dispenser’s face and leash it.
• Finally, activate the dispenser using a Redstone torch, button, or lever.
• Then, the dispenser will put the saddle on your mob right away.

That’s how you craft and use saddles in Minecraft. Remember that riding Minecraft mobs around the world might be easy. However, it’s not the fastest way for exploration in the overworld. We’d recommend using the Elytra or Happy Ghast at a later stage in your game.

So, what do you think about the ability to craft a saddle in the game? Is there anything our guide is missing? Let us know in the comments below.