How do you get and tame a skeleton horse in Minecraft?

Who this is for: Minecraft players seeking rare mounts and those wanting to add unique horses to their collection.


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Finding Skeleton Horse Traps

Skeleton horses spawn exclusively through skeleton horse traps, which are incredibly rare events in Minecraft. These traps have only a 0.75-6.75% chance of spawning during thunderstorms, depending on your regional difficulty level. The trap appears as a single skeleton horse standing alone in an open area during a storm.

You’ll need to be within 10 blocks of the skeleton horse for the trap to activate. When you get close enough, lightning will strike the horse, spawning four skeleton horsemen – skeletons riding skeleton horses and equipped with enchanted bows.

Triggering and Surviving the Trap

Once you approach the lone skeleton horse, be ready for combat. The lightning strike will create four hostile skeleton riders that will immediately start attacking you. These skeletons are more dangerous than regular ones because they’re mounted and have enchanted weapons.

Your best strategy is to focus on killing the skeleton riders first, not the horses. Use a sword with the Smite enchantment if you have one, as it deals extra damage to undead mobs. Alternatively, a bow can help you pick them off from a distance. The skeleton horses themselves are passive and won’t attack you.

Claiming Your Skeleton Horses

After defeating all four skeleton riders, you’ll be left with four tamed skeleton horses. Unlike regular horses, these are already tamed and ready to ride immediately – no carrots, apples, or patience required. You can mount them right away by right-clicking.

Skeleton horses have some unique properties that make them special mounts. They can be ridden underwater without drowning you, they’re faster than regular horses, and they don’t need saddles to be controlled (though adding one gives you an inventory slot).

Tips for Better Success

Since skeleton horse traps are so rare, consider these strategies to improve your chances. Stay in areas with high regional difficulty, as this increases spawn rates. Thunderstorms are essential, so don’t sleep through them if you’re hunting for skeleton horses. Open plains, beaches, and other flat areas are ideal locations since the traps need space to spawn.

Keep in mind that skeleton horses don’t breed and can’t be fed to restore health like regular horses. They also can’t wear horse armor, but they do have decent health and speed stats. If you’re looking for more exciting adventures in the blocky world, there are plenty of ways to explore and have fun.

TL;DR

Skeleton horses spawn from rare traps during thunderstorms (0.75-6.75% chance). Approach the lone horse to trigger lightning that spawns 4 skeleton riders – defeat them to claim 4 pre-tamed skeleton horses.

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Joyst1ck

Gaming Writer & HTML5 Developer

Answering gaming questions—from Roblox and Minecraft to the latest indie hits. I write developer‑focused HTML5 articles and share practical tips on game design, monetisation, and scripting.

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