The Lord of the Rings Minecraft Mod Wiki
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Horses are animals from vanilla Minecraft which can be found in Middle-earth, and are the most common type of mount used by mounted NPCs in the mod, as well as being a relatively easily-obtained mount for players in the early game, significantly easing transportation around the vast realm of Middle-Earth.

The mod's horses, in general, work in the same way as the vanilla horses, but they have some different properties: see below for more on this.

Of all regions of Middle-earth, horses can be found most commonly in the Rohan, but they also appear in many other areas all across the world. There is also a smaller breed of horse known as the Shire pony which is endemic to the Shire.

Differences from Vanilla[]

The mod's horses are a different class of entity from the vanilla ones (meaning you cannot breed a horse from the Overworld with one from Middle-earth). As such, they have some changes and improvements to make them better suited to Middle-earth. Vanilla horses do not have these changes in the mod; they remain as they always were.

  • LOTR horses can swim through water with the player on them. However, the horse will slowly sink and take damage.
  • LOTR horses cannot equip vanilla horse armour, and vice versa. (See LOTR horse armour, which is craftable, while the vanilla types are not)
  • Tamed LOTR horses are bred with ordinary apples (red/green) (Apples) instead of golden apples. You can't breed untamed horses.
    RohanHorseArmour

    A horse in Rohirric Horse Armour.

  • Sometimes, LOTR horses can have better stats than are possible for vanilla ones, depending on the biome the horse was found in. Rohan and Dol Amroth horses have a higher chance to be good jumpers, as well as having higher other stats on average. Note that this does not mean that all those horses are better than all horses found elsewhere.
  • LOTR horses can be controlled by certain NPC's, such as Rohirrim.

In all other aspects, such as appearance, control, passive behaviour, the mod's horses are the same as vanilla.

Spawning[]

Wild horses spawn in many biomes of Middle-earth, especially plains-type biomes south of the Tundra and north of Far Harad. A full list of biomes that support horse herds is presented below.

Horses can also be found in some structures across Middle-earth, such as the Rohan Fortress and Dol Amroth Stable. In that case, the horses spawned will be tamed.

Note that attacking a horse in Rohan, if there are Rohirrim nearby, will - regardless of your Rohan alignment - cause you to lose alignment and be attacked by the nearby Rohirrim.

Speed, jump strength, and health[]

Most horses spawned in most regions of Middle-earth will have roughly equivalent stats in terms of speed, jump strength, and health. However, horses spawned in Dor-en-Ernil and Rohan will have substantially better health, jump strength, and speed. In fact, Rohirric horses are the fastest possible mounts that you can find in the game.

Drops[]

When killed, a horse drops between zero and three pieces of leather (Leather). It also drops any saddle (Saddle) and armour that it was wearing.

Alternative mounts[]

2014-07-24 11.41

Shire pony.

There are other animals that can be used as mounts as well. Examples of other mounts and the main Biomes where these can be found:

Mounted NPCs[]

Many NPCs in the mod can ride horses - these include Galadhrim Elves, Gondor soldiers, and most notably the Rohirrim.

Characteristics[]

If the faction has horse armour at its disposal, then all horses ridden by NPC's will be armoured.When an NPC is riding a horse, the NPC's targeting range is increased by a factor of 1.5. Its attack range (how far away it can hit you with a sword) is also increased by a factor of 1.5. NPCs riding horses are also significantly faster than their unmounted equivalents; in fact, they're usually fast enough that you can't outsprint them. NPCs that use ranged attacks will maneuver away from a foe who comes too close and continue shooting from further away.

If the NPC dies, its horse cannot be used by the player, and will eventually despawn.

Spawning[]

Mounted NPC's are spawned by the same mechanism as normal NPC's. Firstly, the game chooses to spawn a faction NPC in a given location, then it decides whether or not to spawn it on a horse. This is the reverse of how mounted wargs and spiders spawn (Warg/Spider first, then soldier).

The chance of finding a horse-riding NPC varies - it is relatively uncommon to spot a warrior of the Galadhrim on a horse, but almost all of the Rohirrim ride horses. You can also hire many of the cavalry units from the appropriate NPC (Rohirrim marshal, Gondorian captain, Galadhrim lord etc.). Cavalry units are typically more expensive and require a higher alignment to command than foot soldiers.

If a faction uses mounted NPC's then there's a chance of a mounted NPC spawning when using that NPC's spawn egg in Creative.

Trivia[]

The anglo-saxon eh-rune (= letter E) means "horse". Tolkien used those ᚱᚢᚾᛖᛋ for some texts in the initial drafts of "The Lord of the Rings", later on, he replaced them by cirth runes.

The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.

Old English rune poem


History[]

  • Public Beta 1: Added horses.
  • Public Beta 7: Mod horses gain the same stats as vanilla horses.
  • Public Beta 8: NPC's can ride horses. They can also mount their horses of their fallen comrades.
  • Public Beta 8.3: NPC's can no longer mount horses of fallen comrades.
  • Public Beta 12: NPC's are no longer kicked off a horse when they ride into water.
  • Public Beta 15: Horses spawned in Rohan now have better stats than other Middle-earth horses.
  • Public Beta ?: Horses no longer kick the player off when they are ridden into water.
  • Public Beta 20: Horses can no longer wear vanilla horse armour. Naturally spawned horses that are ridden by NPC's will spawn wearing that faction's armour.
  • Update 35: Rohan and Dol Amroth horses no longer have better stats than others, but are more likely to have high level stats within normal limits.
  • Update 35.3: Horses can no longer swim with a rider on their back. Breeding two horses now produce a foal which inherits a mixture of the stats of its parents, slightly altered.
The One Wiki to Rule Them All has an article on:

Horses

North: ElkHorse (Shire Pony) • Wild Boar
Evil: Mirkwood SpiderMordor SpiderWarg
Harad: CamelGiraffeRhinoZebra
Breeding Mounts

Animals of Middle-Earth
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