A zombie horse is an unused variant of the regular horse. Zombie horses appear to be the horse equivalent of zombies. Like zombies, zombie horses are green-skinned and their eyes are completely black.
Spawning[]
Zombie horses may be created by the /summon command or with their spawn egg. When using a spawn egg, 20% spawn as foals.
Drops[]
Upon death, zombie horses drop:
- 0-2 Rotten Flesh. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III.
- 1–3 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
If saddled, they drop their saddle.
Foals yield neither items nor experience.
Usage[]
Tamed and saddled zombie horses can be used as one of the fastest means of transportation in the game. They can also be used to climb hills and jump fences.
In Bedrock Edition, they cannot be ridden.
Equipment[]
Zombie horses have a lone equipment slot.
- Saddle slot: For equipping a saddle.
In Bedrock Edition, they have no slot.
Riding[]
Once a horse is tamed and saddled, the player can control it with directional controls, jump, and the mouse. The player dismounts using the dismount control. Like riding other entities, it is impossible for a player to use a nether portal or end portal while on a horse.
A ridden horse automatically runs up any one-block-high slope. The horse and rider can safely fit through a space as low as 2.75 blocks high. Lower clearance risks suffocating the rider if the rider's head enters a non-transparent block. The horse itself can enter gaps as low as 1.625 blocks high, but may itself take suffocation damage when clearance is less than 1.75 blocks. Horses cannot fit through a 1-block-wide gap.
Ridden saddled zombie horses have the ability of "jumping charging". When the player rides them, the experience bar on HUD is replaced by jumping charging bar. A ridden saddled zombie horses can be made to jump and holding the control charges for a higher leap. Zombie horses are not affected by jump boost beacons or potions.
Behavior[]
The zombie horse is an undead mob that is completely passive. Zombie horses behave like normal horses, roaming idly and occasionally stopping to rear, swish their tails, or lower their heads as though eating the grass. Unlike sheep, the eating animation does not actually cause any grass to be consumed. Zombie horses can breathe in water.
Unlike other passive mobs, zombie horses slowly regenerate health. In Bedrock Edition, zombie horses will be killed by the Conduit like any regular hostile mob, despite being passive.
Zombie horses, in common with other undead mobs, take damage when affected by a Potion of Healing and are healed by a Potion of Harming. They are also affected by the Smite enchantment.
Taming[]
Zombie horses cannot be tamed. However, a tamed zombie horse can be summoned using /summon minecraft:zombie_horse ~ ~ ~ {Tame:1b}.[Java Edition only]
In Bedrock Edition, technically all zombie horses are always regarded as tamed.
Statistics[]
Zombie horses are spawned with constant health of 15, speed of 0.2, and have a jump strength ranging from 0.4–1.0, tending toward the average 0.7.
Sounds[]
Java Edition:
Zombie horses use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Horse cries | Friendly Creatures | Randomly | entity | subtitles | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | 16 | |
| Zombie Horse dies | Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse dies | entity | subtitles | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | 16 | |
| Zombie Horse hurts | Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse is damaged | entity | subtitles | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | 16 | |
| Horse gallops | Friendly Creatures | While a zombie horse is galloping | entity | subtitles | Block-Dependent | Block-Dependent | 16 | |
| Horse jumps | Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse begins a leap | entity | subtitles | 0.4 | 1.0 | 16 | |
| Something fell | Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse falls from more than 1 block | entity | subtitles | 0.4 | 1.0 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Friendly Creatures | While a zombie horse is walking | entity | subtitles | Block-Dependent | Block-Dependent | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Friendly Creatures | While a zombie horse is walking on wood or is being ridden | entity | subtitles | Block-Dependent | Block-Dependent | 16 | |
| Saddle equips | Friendly Creatures | When a saddle is equipped to a tamed zombie horse | entity | subtitles | 0.5 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friendly Creatures | Randomly | mob | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | |
| Friendly Creatures | Unused sound event[sound 1] | mob | 0.6 | 1.0 (Baby: 1.5) | |
| Friendly Creatures | Unused sound event[sound 1] | mob | 1.0 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | |
| Friendly Creatures | Unused sound event[sound 1] | mob | 0.7 | 1.0 | |
| Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse dies | mob | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | |
| Friendly Creatures | Unused sound event[sound 1] | mob | 0.5-1.5 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | |
| Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse takes damage | mob | 0.8 | 0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7) | |
| Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse begins a leap | mob | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Friendly Creatures | When a zombie horse falls from more than 1 block | mob | 0.4 | 1.0 (Baby: 1.5) | |
| Friendly Creatures | While a zombie horse is walking | mob | 0.45 | 0.9-1.1 | |
| Friendly Creatures | While a zombie horse is walking on wood[sound 2] or is being ridden | mob | 0.45 | 0.9-1.1 | |
| Friendly Creatures | When a saddle is equipped to a zombie horse | mob | 0.6 | 1.0 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Zombie Horse | zombie_horse | entity.minecraft.zombie_horse |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombie Horse | zombie_horse | 27 | entity.zombie_horse.name |
Entity data[]
Zombie horses have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.
- Entity data
- Additional fields for mobs that can breed
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- Tags common to all horses
History[]
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6.1 | 13w16a |   Added zombie horses.
| |||
| Zombie horses have been assisted by DrZhark (John Olarte), creator of the Mo' Creatures mod, whose horses are a baseline for Minecraft's zombie horse models.[1] | |||||
| 13w16b | Zombie horses have been made slower and have been reduced from gliding so much. | ||||
| 13w18a | Horse saddles have been removed. Zombie horses are now ridden using the saddle. | ||||
| 13w21a | New GUI for zombie horses, to control the saddle, has been added. | ||||
| 13w22a | New sound effects for zombie horses have been added. | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Zombie horses are now available without third-party tools, with the introduction of the /summon command. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w43a–44b | The drops of zombie horses have been changed several times. The end result is that zombie horses now always drop 1 rotten flesh, not affected by Looting. | |||
| 15w47b | Sounds for zombie horses eating food given by a player have been added. | ||||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Added zombie horse spawn egg. | |||
| pre2 | Zombie horse spawn eggs have been removed. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | Zombie horses now have a separate ID from horses: zombie_horse.
| |||
| Re-added zombie horse spawn egg. | |||||
| 16w38a | Zombie horses now drop 0–2 rotten flesh, affected by Looting. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w45a |   The model for zombie horses has been changed. | |||
| 17w46a |   The new zombie horse models have been slightly tweaked. The position of the nose has been moved up to one pixel. | ||||
| 18w03a |   The models of zombie horses have been changed, once again. Also, the textures of zombie horses have been slightly altered and the nose heights have been increased by one pixel. | ||||
| pre2 | Zombie horses now sink in water. | ||||
The model of zombie horses has been updated to fix serious Z-fighting, which has changed the model from  to  .[2] | |||||
| 1.14 | 19w08a |   The textures of zombie horses have been changed. | |||
| 1.16 | 20w09a | Zombie horses can now be leashed. | |||
| 1.19.4 | 23w03a | The texture of the zombie horse has been changed. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.15.0 | build 1 | Added zombie horses. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | The entity ID for zombie horses has been changed from zombiehorse to zombie_horse. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.9 | Zombie horses no longer open their mouths when bucking the player off or taking damage. | ||||
| 1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Baby zombie horses now have a chance of being spawned using a spawn egg. | |||
| 1.10.0 | The textures of zombie horses have been changed. | ||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU54 | CU44 | 1.52 | Patch 24 | 1.0.4 | Zombie horses are able to be spawned with a spawn egg found in the creative inventory. |
| TU57 | CU49 | 1.56 | Patch 27 | 1.0.7 | Zombie horses can now be tamed and leashed. |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added zombie horses. | ||||
Issues[]
Zombie Horses are an unsupported mob and as such issues relating to them may not be fixed.
Trivia[]
- Dr. Zhark appears in the credits after the End Poem as the creator of horses, including zombie horses.
- If a player pulling a zombie horse with a lead enters a boat, the zombie horse follows by swimming at the same speed as the boat.
- A player riding a zombie horse is dragged along if the zombie horse is being pulled by a lead, and can even be lifted up in the air in the same way.
- The texture for zombie horses contains an unused saddlebag that has a different appearance from those of donkeys or mules.
Gallery[]
A zombie horse in a badlands biome.
A zombie horse and a baby zombie horse.
The zombie horse texture file in Bedrock Edition. It has an unused saddlebag.
