FAQ
Frequently asked questions about BetterHorses.
BetterHorses expands Minecraft's horse system with improved breeding, stored horse items, traits, training, mount customization, and support for multiple rideable mount types.
Yes. You can find the source code here.
BetterHorses currently supports:
- Horses
- Skeleton Horses
- Zombie Horses
- Camels
- Mules
- Donkeys
Camels are disabled by default and can be enabled in the config.
This usually happens because the horse recently bred.
By default, female horses have a 5 minute breeding cooldown. During this cooldown, they cannot be fed.
Male horses have no breeding cooldown by default.
You can change this behavior in the config.
Common reasons:
- Both horses have the same gender
- One of the horses is neutered
- One of the horses is still on breeding cooldown
- Breeding may be restricted by permissions or config settings
By default, same-gender breeding is disabled.
Yes.
The breeding cooldown continues ticking down even if the horse was converted into an item.
No.
Once a horse is neutered, it can no longer breed. Neutering is irreversible.
No.
Traits are not inherited from the parents. Every newly bred horse has its own chance to be born with a random trait.
Traits are genetic mutations that give horses active or passive abilities.
Examples include movement boosts, special effects, passive bonuses, or unique transformation mechanics.
You can learn more about traits here:
https://discord.com/channels/1364565394345562132/1373765593341100062
Traits are chance-based.
A horse only receives a trait if:
- Traits are enabled in the config
- The specific trait is enabled
- The horse successfully rolls a trait chance during breeding
- The player has the required permissions, if permissions are configured
Yes.
You can disable the entire trait system or disable individual traits in the config.
Yes.
BetterHorses has trait permissions such as:
betterhorses.trait.use
betterhorses.trait.receive
betterhorses.trait.*
Individual traits also have their own permissions.
By default, BetterHorses can make fully grown horses up to 30% bigger than vanilla horses.
This can be adjusted in the config:
horse-growth-settings:
max-size: 1.3Set it to 1.0 if you want vanilla-sized adult horses.
Yes.
horse-growth-settings:
enabled: falseBy default, Minecraft internally stores horse speed and jump strength as raw values.
BetterHorses can display them in two modes:
stats:
display-mode: RAWor:
stats:
display-mode: BLOCKSBLOCKS converts speed to blocks per second and jump strength to jump height in blocks.
A horse item is an item that stores a horse and its data.
It can include:
- Type
- Name
- Gender
- Health
- Speed
- Jump strength
- Trait
- Training progress
- Owner
- Armor
- Texture/model data
Yes.
settings:
horse-item: SADDLEYou can replace SADDLE with another valid Bukkit material.
Yes.
BetterHorses supports:
- CustomModelData
- Item model
- CIT string
- Model string
These can be configured in the settings.texture section.
Yes, if enabled:
settings:
allow-rightclick-spawn: truePlayers also need the required permission:
betterhorses.spawn.rightclick
They may be missing the required permission.
Common permissions:
betterhorses.spawn.command
betterhorses.despawn
betterhorses.info
betterhorses.neuter
betterhorses.reload
betterhorses.create
Admins can use:
betterhorses.*
/horse info is mainly a debug command.
It becomes available when debug mode is enabled:
debug:
enabled: trueBy default, this depends on your config.
If owner restriction is enabled:
settings:
restrict-mounting-to-owner: trueonly the owner can ride their horse.
Players with the bypass permission may still be able to ride other players' horses:
betterhorses.bypass
Yes.
settings:
rider-invulnerable: truePlayers also need the related permission if permissions are used:
betterhorses.rider.invincible
Training allows horses to improve over time through:
- Riding
- Brushing
- Feeding
Each training category can increase a different stat.
Yes.
training:
enabled: falseCheck if training lore is enabled:
training:
lore:
enabled: trueAlso make sure the horse item lore layout includes training entries.
Trample allows mounted horses to damage and knock back entities they run through.
Check:
-
trample.enabledis set totrue - The mount type is enabled under
trample.mount-types - The player has
betterhorses.trample - The horse is moving fast enough
- The target type is allowed by
affect-playersoraffect-mobs
BetterHorses is designed to support both Paper and Spigot where possible.
Some features may require Paper or newer Minecraft versions, such as custom growth scaling.
Some Bukkit/Paper APIs are different.
If a feature depends on newer or Paper-specific API behavior, it may not work the same way on Spigot.
Check the console for errors and make sure you are using a compatible server version.
Check:
- The item is a valid BetterHorses item
- Right-click spawning is enabled
- The player has permission
- The spawn location is allowed
- The item data was not manually edited or corrupted
If the horse was despawned, it should be stored in the horse item.
If it died, it may be gone permanently unless a trait or feature prevented death.
Use /horse info with debug enabled to inspect horse items.
A restart is safest.
If you use the reload command, make sure the config has no YAML formatting errors.
/horse reload
- Home
- How it works - Comprehensive guide for server admins & players.
- FAQ - Frequently asked questions.
- Video Showcase - Watch and learn.
- Better Horses API - Guide for plugin developers.
- Discord - Get involved with other players using the plugin, seek help or report bugs to the dev.
- Growth
- Traits
- Genetics
- Breeding
- Training
- Trampling
- Sand Slowness
- Mount Types
- Rider Buffs
- Vanilla Fixes