Riding horses in Minecraft is both fun and rewarding, as players can both get around a lot faster and look cool doing it. That said, this feature can't be done in survival mode without the help of a saddle, so many players are curious about how to craft one. Aside from riding horses, saddles are also needed to ride pigs and even the Striders of the Nether. With these items being so useful, it would be nice if players had a consistent way to get them. They don't seem as though they'd be as complicated to craft as a diamond pickaxe, yet there is no way to craft a saddle in Minecraft.
Minecraft is known for allowing players to build or craft almost anything, but its crafting system in particular does have limits. Players can only craft what is hardcoded into the game with a crafting recipe, and for some reason saddles just aren't one of those things. That doesn't mean that there's now way for players to get a saddle in the game, however.
Saddles can only be obtained while in survival mode through the use of one of four methods. They can be found in chests in dungeons and the like, be dropped from enemies or mobs that are wearing/using a saddle, be obtained from fishing, or be traded for from a villager. In the case of chests, saddles are a potential reward from chests of almost any kind, so players should keep an eye out for them while exploring. Mobs that can drop saddles include Striders being ridden by Zombie Piglins and Ravagers. The former has a small chance to drop a saddle but the latter will always drop a saddle upon death.
For fishing, a saddle is one of the treasure items that players can pull up from the water. While this isn't a reliable way to get them by any means, it's a nice surprise when the player gets a saddle instead of a fish. For every time the player successfully fishes, there's about a 0.8% chance of getting a saddle. Finally, saddles can be obtained by trading with Leatherworkers once they have reached master level.
In terms of the best way to reliably get saddles, the only guaranteed options are to farm Ravagers and trade with Leatherworkers. Unfortunately, Ravagers only spawn during village raids, and even the Leatherworker will stop selling saddles after the player has purchased too many. One option for those that don't mind using creative mode but still want to keep things fair is to simply get the saddle from creative mode and then remove five or six leather.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
