For years, the answer to “how do you craft a saddle” was “you can’t.” That finally changed. As of the 1.21.6 update, saddles are craftable, so you no longer have to rely on luck to ride your horse, pig, or strider.
This guide covers the new crafting recipe, every other way to get a saddle, which mobs you can ride, and how to take a saddle back off. Everything here is accurate for the latest 2026 version of Minecraft.
Quick answer: craft a saddle from 3 leather and 1 iron ingot. You can also find one in loot chests, catch one while fishing, trade for one with a master leatherworker villager, or get one from a saddled mob. Use it on a horse, donkey, mule, pig, strider, or camel.
Ways to Get a Saddle at a Glance
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Crafting | 3 leather + 1 iron ingot (1.21.6 and later) |
| Chest loot | Many structures (see below) |
| Fishing | 0.8% chance per catch |
| Villager trade | Master leatherworker, 8 to 10 emeralds |
| Mob loot | Ravagers and any saddled mob that dies |
How to Craft a Saddle
This is the new and easiest method. In a crafting table, place:
- Top row: leather, leather, leather
- Middle row: iron ingot in the center
That is 3 leather and 1 iron ingot, and it gives you one saddle. Leather comes from cows, horses, llamas, and a few other mobs, and iron is everywhere underground, so this recipe is far more reliable than hunting for one.
Other Ways to Get a Saddle
Even with crafting available, you will still stumble across saddles out in the world.
Loot chests. Saddles generate in a long list of structure chests, including dungeon (monster room) chests, ancient city chests, bastion remnant hoglin stable chests, desert pyramid chests, End city chests, savanna house chests, weaponsmith chests, stronghold altar chests, nether fortress chests, jungle pyramid chests, and tanner villager chests. Our guide to finding an Ancient City is a good place to start hunting.
Mob loot. Any mob wearing a saddle drops it when it dies, and Ravagers always drop a saddle when killed. You cannot ride a Ravager, but you can still take its saddle.
Fishing. Saddles are a rare fishing treasure with only a 0.8% chance per catch, so this is the slow way, but it works if you are already fishing.
Trading. A master-level leatherworker villager sells saddles for 8 to 10 emeralds. There is an edition difference worth knowing: in Java Edition a master leatherworker always offers the saddle trade, while in Bedrock Edition there is only a 50% chance it appears.
How to Use a Saddle
A saddle lets you ride six mobs: the horse, donkey, mule, pig, strider, and camel. How you saddle each one differs a little.
- Horse, donkey, mule: you must tame them first by riding until hearts appear, then open their inventory and place the saddle in the saddle slot. Our how to tame a horse guide walks through taming.
- Camel: no taming needed. Just use the saddle on it and hop on.
- Pig: put the saddle on, but it will not move on its own. You steer it with a carrot on a stick.
- Strider: same idea, but you steer it with a warped fungus on a stick, which also lets you cross lava safely.
You can also equip a saddle hands-free by loading it into a dispenser aimed at a tame mob and triggering it.
A handy bonus: mobs wearing a saddle will not despawn, so saddling a wandering mob is a simple way to keep it around.
How to Remove a Saddle
Getting a saddle back is easy on most mobs and used to be impossible on others.
- Horse, donkey, mule, camel: open the mob’s inventory and take the saddle out.
- Pig and strider: these have no inventory, so for years you could not remove their saddle at all. As of 1.21.6, you can shear it off with a pair of shears. One catch: if the mob is also holding a lead, the shears snip the lead first, so remove the lead before you shear the saddle.
To dismount any mob, press the sneak key (or the dismount button on console and mobile).
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. As of the 1.21.6 update, you craft a saddle from 3 leather and 1 iron ingot. Before that update, saddles could only be found, fished, or traded for.
Place 3 leather across the top row of the crafting grid and 1 iron ingot in the center. That makes one saddle.
In loot chests across many structures (dungeons, ancient cities, nether fortresses, desert and jungle pyramids, End cities, and more), from fishing at a 0.8% chance, from a master leatherworker trade, or as a drop from Ravagers and saddled mobs.
Horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, striders, and camels. Horses, donkeys, and mules must be tamed first.
A pig follows a carrot on a stick, and a strider follows a warped fungus on a stick. Hold it out and the mob moves in that direction.
Use shears. Since the 1.21.6 update you can shear the saddle off pigs and striders, which have no inventory. Remove any lead first, or the shears take the lead instead.
Crafting finally makes saddles something you can plan for instead of hope for. Grab 3 leather and an iron ingot, saddle up a horse or a strider, and explore. For more animal handling, see our guides on how to tame a horse and how to breed horses.
