How to Tame and Ride a Skeleton Horse in Minecraft

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to tame and ride a skeleton horse with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

After you have tamed a skeleton horse in Minecraft, you can put a saddle on it and ride the skeleton horse. The saddle allows you to control the movements of the skeleton horse.

Let's explore how to do this.

Required Materials to Ride a Skeleton Horse

In Minecraft, these are the materials you can use to ride a skeleton horse:

Steps to Tame and Ride a Skeleton Horse

1. Find a Skeleton Horse

In Minecraft when you find a skeleton horse, you can tame it.

Skeleton horses occur in the game when a regular horse is struck by lightning. If you are having trouble finding a skeleton horse, you can either use a skeleton horse spawn egg or summon a skeleton horse using a cheat. You can also use a spawn egg.

2. Tame the Skeleton Horse

First, select an empty slot in your hotbar (because you must use your hand to tame the skeleton horse). You will tame a skeleton horse by repeatedly trying to mount the skeleton horse and getting bucked off.

The game control to tame the skeleton horse depends on the version of Minecraft:

• 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.

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

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

Now at this point, you can sit on the skeleton horse but you can not control the movement of the skeleton horse until you put a saddle on the skeleton horse. So let's learn how to put a saddle on the skeleton horse.

3. Put a Saddle on the Skeleton Horse

To put a saddle on a skeleton horse, select the saddle in your hotbar. The game control to put the saddle on the skeleton horse depends on the version of Minecraft:

• For Xbox 360 and Xbox One, press the LT button on the Xbox controller to mount the skeleton 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 skeleton horse and then press the Triangle button to open your inventory.
• For Wii U, press the ZL button on the gamepad to mount the skeleton horse and then press the X button to open your inventory.
• For Nintendo Switch, press the ZL button on the controller to mount the skeleton horse and then press the X button to open your inventory.

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

Move the saddle from the hotbar to the saddle box on the left side of the skeleton horse picture.

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

Now when you return to the game, you should see the skeleton horse wearing the saddle. Now let's learn how to ride the skeleton horse.

4. Mount the Skeleton Horse

Now that you have tamed and put a saddle on a skeleton horse, you can ride it and control its movements. The game control to mount the skeleton horse depends on the version of Minecraft:

• For Java Edition (PC/Mac), right click on the skeleton horse.
• For Pocket Edition (PE), you move your pointer over the skeleton horse and press the Ride 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 skeleton horse.
• For Education Edition, right click on the skeleton horse.

You will mount and be riding the skeleton horse. You can move the skeleton horse using the same controls that you use to move yourself.

Change the camera angle if you want to see yourself riding the skeleton horse.

5. Dismount the Skeleton Horse

The game control to dismount the skeleton horse depends on the version of Minecraft:

• For Java Edition (PC/Mac), press the left shift key.
• For Pocket Edition (PE), press the Center button (ie: crouch/sneak button) twice.
• For Xbox 360 and Xbox One, press the Right Stick (RS) on the Xbox controller.
• For PS3 and PS4, press the Right Stick (RS) on the PS controller.
• For Wii U, press the Right Stick (RS) on the gamepad.
• For Nintendo Switch, press the Right Stick (RS) on the controller.
• Windows 10 Edition, press the left shift key.
• For Education Edition, press the left shift key.

Congratulations, you have just learned how to tame and ride a skeleton horse in Minecraft!