How to Put Armor on a Horse in Minecraft

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to put armor on a horse with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

After you have tamed a horse in Minecraft, you can put armor on a horse. The armor will protect the horse from taking damage. Let's explore how to do this.

Armor Items for a Horse

In Minecraft, you can put one of these armor items on a horse:

Steps to put Armor on a Horse

1. Find a Horse

In Minecraft you will need to find a horse.

horse

Horses are usually found in the Plains biome.

plains biome

If you are having trouble finding a horse, you can always summon a horse using a cheat or you can use a spawn egg.

Now that you've found a horse, let's tame it.

2. Tame the Horse

To tame a horse, make sure you have nothing selected in your hotbar. You must use your hand to tame the horse.

You will tame a horse by repeatedly trying to mount the horse and getting bucked off. The game control to mount the horse depends on the version of Minecraft:

  • For Java Edition (PC/Mac), right click on the horse.
  • For Pocket Edition (PE), you move your pointer over the horse and press the Mount button.
  • For Xbox 360 and Xbox One, press the LT button on the Xbox controller.
  • For PS3 and PS4, press the L2 button on the PS controller.
  • For Wii U, press the ZL button on the gamepad.
  • For Nintendo Switch, press the ZL button on the controller.
  • For Windows 10 Edition, right click on the horse.
  • For Education Edition, right click on the horse.

taming horse

Each time you are knocked off, try to mount the horse again. After every attempt, the horse will let you sit on it a bit longer before it bucks you off.

When the horse is tamed, you should see red hearts appear all around the horse and the horse will no longer buck you off.

horse and hearts

3. Put Armor on Horse

Now that you have tamed the horse in Minecraft, you can put horse armor on it. There are three types of horse armor to choose from - diamond horse armor, gold horse armor and iron horse armor.

In this example, we want to put diamond horse armor on the horse. So add the diamond horse armor to your hotbar and then:

  • For Java Edition (PC/Mac), right click on the horse to mount it and then press E for inventory.
  • For Pocket Edition (PE), you move your pointer over the horse and press the Mount button. Once mounted, tap on the button with 3 dots to open your inventory and then tap on the button with the picture of a saddle.
  • For Xbox 360 and Xbox One, press the LT button on the Xbox controller to mount the horse and then press the Y button to open your inventory.
  • For PS3 and PS4, press the L2 button on the PS controller to mount the horse and then press the p3 button Triangle button to open your inventory.
  • For Wii U, press the ZL button on the gamepad to mount the horse and then press the X button to open your inventory.
  • For Nintendo Switch, press the ZL button on the controller to mount the horse and then press the X button to open your inventory.
  • For Windows 10 Edition, right click on the horse to mount it and then press E for inventory.
  • For Education Edition, right click on the horse to mount it and then press E for inventory.

horse and horse armor

A window should open displaying the items that your horse is wearing.

Move the diamond horse armor from the hotbar to the armor box on the left side of the horse picture.

equip armor on horse

After you move the diamond horse armor to the armor box, you will see your horse's appearance change as the armor is worn.

armor equipped on horse

Now when you return to the game, you should see the horse wearing the diamond horse armor.

horse wearing diamond horse armor

Congratulations, you have just put armor on a horse in Minecraft! Now you might want to put a saddle on the horse to control the horse's movement.

Things to Do with Horses

Here are some activities that you can do with horses in Minecraft: