Icy's Better Horses

Your first horse

• Find a herd. Each breed has its own biomes (see the breeds below); plains, forests and meadows have the most.
• Tame it the vanilla way: get on with an empty hand until it stops throwing you and hearts appear. It is registered to you at once.
• Put a Saddle on it to ride, or go straight for the Upgraded Saddle.
• Craft the Upgraded Saddle: five Diamonds around a saddle, three Copper Ingots along the bottom.
• Stay near the horse and let its bond build. Ride it, keep it close, and give it a name tag early for a quick ten points.

Holding the Upgraded Saddle and looking at any horse shows its gender, breed, speed and jump above your hotbar, so you can check a wild horse before you spend time taming it.

How bond grows and what it unlocks

Bond runs from 0 to 100 and is shown on the horse's info screen and in your horse list. It grows four ways:

Time nearby

One point a minute while you are within 10 blocks of the horse, on our server's settings. About an hour and forty minutes takes a horse from 0 to 100 on this alone.

Name Tag

Plus ten, once, when you name it with a Name Tag.

Golden Apple

Plus two for each Golden Apple it eats.

Brush

Plus one each time you use a Brush on it, once every five minutes.

A Morgan gains bond half again as fast from all of these, and twice as fast from bond 40.

Every 20 bond

Plus 15% base speed and jump strength, five steps in all. A 15 blk/s horse reaches 26.25 blk/s at bond 100. Health does not change.

Bond 40

The breed's ability gets its second stage. A loose horse now runs down whatever hurts you within 16 blocks. It throws you less often when spooked (7% instead of 10%).

Bond 100

The breed's third stage. Spook chance drops to 5%, and the chance it bolts at lightning or a creeper blast drops to half.

A horse with no bond at all will not answer the whistle from your horse list. Reviving a dead horse costs 20 bond (see the roster below).

The Upgraded Saddle and its gear slots

Put the Upgraded Saddle in the horse's saddle slot and the horse screen gets four gear slots next to the usual armour slot. Most gear is fitted by right-clicking the horse with it.

Chest

A Chest gives the horse saddlebags: three rows on most breeds, four on the Clydesdale, Percheron, Shire and Haflinger, six on the Belgian. The Haflinger goes to six and the Morgan to four at bond 100. Sophisticated Storage chests fit too. An Ender Chest turns the bags into your ender inventory.

Horseshoe

The Horseshoe: walks on powder snow and halves fall damage.

Medkit

The Horse Medkit: saves the horse once when a hit would take it under half health.

Harness

The Glidewing Harness or the Horse Cart. They share this slot, so a horse wears one or the other.

Gear comes off in the order it went on. Shears take the chest off (empty it first), then the cart, then the saddle. Empty the saddlebags before you remove the chest or their contents drop.

Horseshoe, Horse Medkit and Glidewing Harness

Horseshoe

Seven copper ingots in a U around one Leather. The horse crosses powder snow and takes half the fall damage. Put Frost Walker on it at an anvil with an enchanted book and the horse freezes water as it runs. See Horseshoe.

Horse Medkit

Three wool on top, two golden carrots beside a Potion of Regeneration, three golden apples on the bottom. When a hit would drop the horse under half health it is used up and gives Regeneration, Instant Health, Resistance and Fire Resistance. War horses get twice the time from it. See Horse Medkit.

Canister

Six copper ingots and two Gold Ingots. Two go into the harness, and one on an Anvil refills an empty harness by 80%. See Canister.

Glidewing Harness

Three copper ingots, a canister, a leather and a canister, three copper ingots. On a big fall it opens, slows the drop and can cancel the fall damage. It holds about two minutes of gliding and only uses fuel while open; a gauge by the hotbar shows what is left. Horses only: donkeys, mules and skeleton or zombie horses cannot wear one. See Glidewing Harness.

An empty harness stays on the horse and does nothing until you refill it with a canister on an anvil. Nothing else repairs it.

The Horse Cart

• Craft two Wheels: four sticks and five planks each, in a checker pattern.
• Craft the Horse Cart: two wooden slabs in the top corners, three planks across the middle, a wheel in each bottom corner.
• Right-click a horse wearing an Upgraded Saddle with the cart in hand. The harness slot must be empty.

Two sizes

A draft horse (Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron, Shire) can pull the large covered wagon on four wheels. Every other horse pulls the small two-wheeled cart. Switch on the cart's Cart tab.

Speed

Draft horses pull a loaded cart at full speed, and so does a Haflinger from bond 40. Every other horse is 30% slower with one.

Seats

The small cart seats four (two on the bench, two in the bed), the large one six. The first one on the bench drives. Animals climb in like they would into a boat, and the Riders tab picks passive, neutral or hostile.

Chest

Right-click the cart with a chest to fit one in the bed: a double chest on the small cart, 90 slots on the large. On the small cart it takes the two bed seats.

Plough

Right-click the small cart with a hoe and it turns a strip three blocks wide to farmland as you drive; with a shovel it lays dirt path. The tool loses a point of durability per block.

Tarp

Undead riding under the large wagon's tarp do not burn in daylight, which is a way to bring a zombie villager home.

Parking

Right-click the ground to stand a cart on its own. Hit it a few times to pick it back up.

The five horse classes

Every breed belongs to a class, which sets the range its stats roll in and gives it shared perks.

Race

Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian. Speed 11 to 15 blk/s, jump 3 to 6, health 15 to 20. Fastest and best jumpers, weakest charge (0.6 times).

War

Andalusian, Friesian, Mustang. Speed 9 to 15, jump 2 to 5.5, health 25 to 40. Never spook and never rear when hit. Medkits last twice as long. Hardest charge (1.5 times).

Draft

Belgian, Clydesdale, Percheron, Shire. Speed 7 to 10, jump 1 to 3.5, health 35 to 50. Four rows of storage or more, a chest and two riders at once, full speed with a cart, heavy knockback resistance, spook half as often.

Pony

Haflinger, Icelandic. Speed 8 to 13, jump 2 to 4.5, health 25 to 40. Step up two blocks, no fall damage under 15 blocks, walk on powder snow without shoes, heal slowly on their own.

Western

American Paint, Appaloosa, Morgan. Speed 8 to 15, jump 2 to 4.5, health 15 to 30. 10% faster on roads (paths, gravel, cobblestone, stone bricks and the like), 20% from bond 40 and 50% at bond 100.

All fifteen breeds and their abilities

Each breed's ability is listed at bond 0, then what it gains at 40 and 100. Biomes are where it spawns in the wild, plus modded biomes of the same kind.

Thoroughbred

Race. Plus 35% speed for three seconds on a flat gallop, every five seconds; plus 50% from bond 40; the burst lasts five seconds at 100. Plains, sunflower plains, meadow, forest, birch forest.

Quarter Horse

Race. Stand still a second, then go: plus 30% for five seconds, ten second cooldown; plus 45% at 40; eight second cooldown at 100. Plains, sunflower plains, savannas.

Arabian

Race. Speed builds while moving, to plus 10% after twenty seconds; plus 20% at 40; reaches it in twelve seconds and forgives a short stop at 100. Desert, badlands, savannas.

Andalusian

War. The rider takes less damage, more at 40. At 100 it takes a killing blow for you and survives on one heart, with a long cooldown. Meadow, cherry grove, flower forest, plains, forest.

Friesian

War. Neutral mobs lose interest in you; hostile ones too from 40. At 100, rearing throws back every hostile in front. Dark forest, forest, taiga, old growth spruce taiga.

Mustang

War. Outlines nearby hostiles and heals itself a heart every 15 seconds; every eight seconds and heals you a heart every 10 seconds from 40; you every five seconds at 100. Plains, savanna, windswept hills, badlands, sparse jungle.

Belgian

Draft. Six rows of storage, the most of any horse; seats three riders without a chest at 40. Its bond 100 Brick Break is switched off on our server. Taiga, old growth taigas, forest.

Clydesdale

Draft. Horse armour gives 25% more protection; armour gives the rider Resistance at 40; arrows are stopped before they hit horse or rider at 100. Windswept hills, gravelly hills and forest, old growth pine taiga.

Percheron

Draft. Not slowed by soul sand, cobwebs, berry bushes or honey; its charge hits up to half again as hard on a long run at 40; a charge that kills leaves no cooldown at 100. Old growth spruce taiga, forest, meadow, plains.

Shire

Draft. Mobs that have locked on but not yet swung usually back off, from further at 40. Its bond 100 Brick Break is switched off on our server. Forest, birch forests, windswept forest, dark forest.

Haflinger

Pony. Four rows of storage; pulls a cart at full speed at 40; six rows and lights the ground after dark at 100. Snowy slopes, grove, meadow, the peaks.

Icelandic

Pony. Not slowed by soul sand, cobwebs, berry bushes or honey; neither of you freezes at 40; poison, wither and hunger are refused at 100. Snowy plains, snowy taiga, ice spikes, peaks, slopes, grove.

American Paint

Western. Maps filled while riding cover twice the ground, three times at 40, four at 100, where it also marks structures. Kills from its saddle get Looting I, II at 40, III at 100. Plains, sunflower plains, savanna, sparse jungle.

Appaloosa

Western. Night vision while you ride in the dark; with an empty hand livestock within 20 blocks follow it at 40; with a chest on it feeds nearby animals their breeding food at 100. Plains, wooded badlands, savanna plateau, sunflower plains.

Morgan

Western. Bonds half again as fast, twice as fast at 40. At 100 it gets a share of every class's perks, a fourth storage row and a higher step among them. Plains, sunflower plains, forest, birch forest, meadow.

Breeding: mares, stallions and foals

• Every horse is a mare or a stallion, and on our server only a mare and a stallion can breed. Two of the same gender waste the food.
• Feed two tamed adults a Golden Carrot, a Golden Apple or an Enchanted Golden Apple. Other foods heal a horse without breeding it.
• The foal's gender is a coin flip, and it takes its breed from one parent or the other. Two different breeds give a foal marked (mix).
• Health, speed and jump start from the better parent and roll between half a point lower and a full point higher, up to the top of the foal's breed range. Keep breeding the best and the line improves.
• Half the time the foal wears a parent's coat, the other half a coat of its breed that neither parent has.

Carrots, potatoes, beetroot, melon slices, sweet berries, glow berries and sugar cane are snacks: each heals a hurt horse at least a heart.

Commands, the whistle and your horse list

Horse Command Wheel

Look at your horse and press its key: Follow, Wander (grazes in a 32 by 32 area), Stay, Set Home, Return Home.

Horse Whistle

Calls your horses to Follow. On our server it has no range limit within a dimension. Pressed while riding, it opens the horse's info screen: gender, breed, coat, bond, speed, jump and health.

Manage Horses

Lists every horse you own with its coordinates, bond and home, even in unloaded chunks (shown as Resting). Set Active, Whistle (it walks if close, teleports if far), Send Home, or Disown it after taking its gear off.

Revival

A dead horse stays in the list, darkened. Summon it back for 10 levels; it loses 20 bond, and its gear dropped where it died.

Gaits

Gear Up (V) and Gear Down (Z) step through walk, trot, canter and gallop, and the horse holds the pace while you steer. Double-tap W to cruise.

The commands any player can use:

/horse trust <player>

That player may ride and handle every horse you own, now and later: gear, saddlebags, cart and commands. They cannot disown one.

/horse untrust <player>

Takes it back and throws them off if they are riding.

/horse trusted

Lists who you trust.

/horse coats <breed>

Lists a breed's coats, or those of the horse you ride or stand beside.

/horse set and /horse spawn change or create horses and need operator rights.

Riding and fighting from the saddle

• Only the owner and trusted players can ride an owned horse. A second player can ride behind the owner.
• Horses float and swim faster in water, and pass through leaves while ridden.
• At a gallop in a straight line the horse charges whatever it runs into, after about a second. It never hits you, your passenger, trusted players or your own horses. Toggle Horse Charge turns it off for you.
• A horse kicks anything that comes at it from behind, except its owner and trusted players.
• On our server a charge or a kick can hurt other players, so mind where you gallop near a base.
• A hit can spook the horse and throw you (10% at bond 0). War horses never spook, draft horses half as often.

The Giddy Up quest chapter

Giddy Up is the chapter for this mod in the Homestead quest book, with eighteen quests. The first gives you the Stable Handbook, the mod's own guide. Seven ask you to craft something:

• Upgraded Saddle, 50 XP.
• Horseshoe, Horse Medkit and Canister, 25 XP each.
• Glidewing Harness, 50 XP.
• Wheel, 25 XP.
• Horse Cart, 100 XP and a second Horse Cart.

The other ten are read and tick: taming and bonding, the command wheel, breeding, trusted riders, the horse roster, and five breed catalogues. Some of them give golden apples or leather. Lost the handbook? A book with a chest or any item of the mod makes a new one.

Questions