When did they add horses to Minecraft?

Horses are passive mobs in Minecraft that can be tamed and ridden throughout worlds at a quick speed.

But how long have they been in the game? When were they introduced in earnest? And how have they changed since?

Originally appearing as an April Fool's joke in a 2013 patch, horses were introduced completely in Minecraft version 1.6.1. They were based in part on the Mo' Creatures mod, and the developer DrZhark assisted Mojang in their creation. They began excessively fast and had a few issues with gliding.

Below, Minecraft players can find a host of changes these passive mobs have received since their introduction.

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What changes have been made to horses since their introduction in Minecraft?

Various horse breeds on display in the game (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Since Minecraft's horses were initially a little uneven in speed and their ability to get airtime, Mojang had to make some fixes.

In the Java Edition 13w16b snapshot, the developers managed to slow horses down substantially and reduce the amount of time they glided in the air. However, there were still more than a few issues.

These mobs had no discernable UI while being ridden and required a horse saddle item to ride. This seemed somewhat pointless when a saddle item already existed in-game.

In snapshot 13w18a, Mojang removed horse saddles and allowed horses to be ridden via standard saddles. In later snapshots, horses were given new sound effects, a dedicated UI to control their saddle equipment and inventory. The mobs' interactions with wheat with regards to taming, breeding and healing were also adjusted.

Java Edition version 1.13 saw a major rework to the model and appearance of horses, departing substantially from their roots.

Horse textures were altered in version 1.14, resulting in the appearances we now have as of version 1.19. Version 1.16 allowed dispensers to saddle and armor horses without player input. Meanwhile, version 1.18's experimental snapshot 6 permitted horses to follow players carrying golden fruits and veggies.

For Bedrock Edition, horses developed along the same lines using the Java Edition iteration of the mobs as a template. The original mob models were phased out. Bedrock horses were brought into line to coincide with their Java counterparts, allowing them to spawn in savannah and plains biomes.

Bedrock would eventually obtain the ability to spawn horses in animal pens and villages. However, this took a short amount of time and was fully introduced in version 1.11.0's beta.

Since these major updates, things have been quiet for horses. These mobs have seen little to no attention after recent updates such as Caves & Cliffs and The Wild Update.

Perhaps Mojang has plans for them in the future, but so far, the community hasn't heard any news on the subject. The game is constantly evolving, and it may not be long before horses are brought back into the spotlight along with other mobs for new content and tweaks.