How to Get a Saddle in Minecraft (2024 Guide)

If you want to ride and control a horse or the camel mob in Minecraft, you need to use a saddle. This item unlocks one of the most reliable ways to travel in the game. Not to forget, thanks to the camel’s height, the saddle acts as a major tactical advantage to the user. But, how do you get a saddle? Can you craft it? Let’s answer all these questions and find out how to get a saddle in Minecraft in our dedicated guide.

How to Get a Saddle in Minecraft (2024 Guide)

What is a saddle in Minecraft?

The saddle is a utility item that you need to ride, and in some cases, control rideable mobs in the game.  It looks similar to leather in terms of design and texture but, unlike leather, you can’t color or add armor trims in Minecraft to the saddle.

Find a Saddle in Minecraft (4 Ways)

Unfortunately, the saddle is a treasured item, and it can’t be crafted on the crafting table. So, the only way to obtain it is by exploring the world and using the in-game looting methods. Here are the various methods to get a saddle:

1. Looting Chests

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

As per the Minecraft Wiki, the chests in Nether Fortress have the highest spawn rate of chests with this item. So, you might have to make a Nether portal while trying to get a saddle.

2. By Fishing

Much like other treasure items, you can catch saddles while fishing in the overworld waterbodies. But keep in mind that, it has a spawn rate of less than 1%. So, you might need to fish for a long time before getting your hands on the saddle. Though, as an alternative, you can also create an AFK fish farm in Minecraft. While it will take some time, you can get a bunch of saddles as well as other items without putting in much effort.

3. Mob Loot

Strider and Ravager

Another reliable method to find saddles is killing Striders and Ravagers. Out of these, ravagers always spawn with a saddle, but you have to trigger a raid to make them spawn. Meanwhile, striders only spawn with a saddle if a zombified Piglin is riding them. Unfortunately, neither of these Minecraft mobs have fixed spawn circumstances so you can’t create a farm to collect saddles via them. However, if you are playing on the survival servers, you can kill other players’ saddled mobs to obtain their saddles.

4. Trading with Villagers

Leatherworker villager next to a cauldron

Being leather-like items, saddles are available as a tradable item with Master-level leatherworker villagers. They sell saddles for 6 emeralds. This trade always shows up 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 not only saddles but also emeralds with easy trades.

Use a Saddle to Ride Minecraft Mobs

Now that you have finally found a saddle, it’s time to use it. Before jumping straight into equipping a saddle, let’s go over all the mobs you can ride first and those include the following:

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

However, not every mob functions in the same way. For example, you first need to tame a horse in Minecraft before using the saddle. Plus, mobs like pigs require bait (carrot on a stick) to control them even after placing a saddle. However, if you want to break away from these limitations, the ride command in Minecraft 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

The saddle slot is available only to camels‌, horses, donkeys, mules, and skeleton horses‌. If you are trying to ride one of these mobs, follow the steps below:

  • First, right-click or use the secondary-action key on the mob to start riding it.
riding without saddle
  • Then, open your Minecraft inventory with the E key or your dedicated inventory key. You will also see the inventory of that mob. Now, place the saddle in the saddle slot of the mob.
Saddle slot in a horse's inventory
  • Once the saddle is in place, you can use your movement keys to make the mob move around. Moreover, if you want to get the saddle back, you can remove it from the inventory slot.
Riding a horse in Minecraft

2. Direct Placement

One of the simplest ways to equip a saddle is by placing it on the mob. This method works for all rideable mobs in-game. But, mobs like horses have to be tamed first before they can be ridden. With that said, here’s how to directly place a saddle on a mob:

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

3. Using Dispensers

While this method is not the ideal one, you can also use a dispenser in Minecraft to put a saddle on your mobs. Here’s how it works:

  • First, place a dispenser one block above the ground and put a saddle in it.
dispenser on ice
  • Then, get your mob right in front of the dispenser’s face.
horse next to dispenser
  • Finally, activate the dispenser using a Redstone torch, button, or lever. Then, the dispenser will put the saddle on your mob.
equip saddle with dispenser in Minecraft

Now, you are ready to go on adventures around your Minecraft world. But keep in mind that even though riding Minecraft mobs around the overworld might be easy, it’s not the fastest method to explore the world. At a later stage in your game, we suggest you get the Elytra in Minecraft. Other than teleportation, it is the most efficient way to travel in Minecraft. Anyway, which Minecraft mob are you going to ride first? Tell us in the comments below!

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