Realistic Horse Genetics

The Realistic Horse Genetics mod introduces a biologically accurate genetic system for horses in Minecraft, making the breeding process much more realistic and engaging.

Coats and Colors

Horses can now have various coat colors including dun, palomino, bay, black, buckskin, chestnut, gray, roan, white, pinto, leopard spotted, and many other color variations. If you're not familiar with these terms - don't worry! Simply breed horses with colors you like, and there's a high probability you'll get foals with similar characteristics. Moreover, thanks to recessive genes, completely unexpected colors can sometimes appear.

The genetic system includes genes such as extension, agouti, dun, cream and pearl, gray, silver dapple, tobiano, roan, frame overo, splashed white, sabino and dominant white, leopard complex, mushroom, champagne, and tiger eye. These genes can be researched in real life, and similarly they can be tested in the game by using a book on a horse. There are also hidden genes that cannot be tested - they control characteristics whose genetics are not fully understood in real life. Flaxen, seal brown, sooty, rabicano, shade variations, and the rate of color change in gray horses - all of these are controlled by these hidden genes.

Characteristics: Speed, Health, and Jump Strength

In the standard version of Minecraft, it's sometimes easier to find a good horse than to breed one. With the introduction of a genetic system controlling characteristics, breeding gains real meaning. Typically spawned horses have characteristics close to average values. However, foals are equally likely to be either better or worse than their parents. This is an important difference from the vanilla system, where with very good parents the offspring is almost always worse. This means that having good horses, it's easier to breed excellent specimens with the genetic system. In return, you need to be careful - there are pairs of horses that always produce offspring exactly the same in characteristics as themselves, never better or worse. This happens with too much inbreeding. You can avoid inbreeding by maintaining a larger horse population, or if your horses are already too inbred - you can reduce it by breeding them with unrelated individuals.

All standard methods of measuring characteristics still work, plus you can get more detailed information by right-clicking on a tamed horse with a book.

If for any reason you want to use the standard system, simply set "useGeneticStats" to false in the configuration.

Horse Sizes

Horses can now have a wide range of sizes. Most spawned individuals will be 12-15 hands high, but through selective breeding you can get miniature horses, draft horses, or any intermediate sizes. Smaller horses can fit in tighter spaces (sometimes even in boats!), while larger individuals have more health and can carry heavier riders.

Sizes were added in version 1.5.0, available for MC 1.15 and 1.16. If for any reason you want all horses to be the same size, set "enableSizes" to false in the configuration.

Main Features

• Genes control coat color, speed, health, jump height, and size, as described above
• Non-Mendelian genetics including genetic linkage where applicable
• Place a carpet in the horse armor slot to use it as a decorative saddle cloth (since version 1.2.1)
• Genetic testing - right-click on a horse with a book (since version 1.2.4)
• Peaceful creatures and villagers can also ride horses. Mount/dismount them using Ctrl + right click (new feature in version 1.5.0)
• Horses spawned in village pens have a small chance to start off tamed and saddled (since version 1.2.5)
• Netherite horse armor (only for Minecraft 1.16.3+)
• Genders, including pregnancy. Stallions can breed much more often than mares. Gender is visible from the horse's inventory screen. (Before MC 1.19, this was an optional feature)
• Starting in RHG 12.0, you can also turn a stallion into a gelding or sterilize a non-pregnant mare using a Potion of Infertility. Craft it through potion brewing, using Awkward potion as the base and adding a Poisonous Potato.

Optional Features

Not included by default, but you can activate them by changing the configuration (in multiplayer make sure client and server configurations match):

• All horses are trained to stand still when saddled (since version 1.2.1, set "enableGroundTie" to true)
• Foals can gradually grow to adult size and shape (since version 1.2.6, set "foalsGrowGradually" to true)
• Changing the time for foals to grow up. By default it's one day as in the standard game, but two days works better (new feature in version 1.2.6, change "growTime" to the desired value)
• Configurable food, new in version 12.5. By default, you can now breed horses using hay as an alternative to golden carrots.

Using a Book for Information

Right-clicking on a horse with a book allows you to see detailed information. The first two pages show estimates of characteristics affecting speed, health, and jump strength. To get more accurate information, I also recommend measuring characteristics using traditional methods as you would without this mod - making horses jump over blocks of different heights, racing them against each other, etc.

This page shows genetic test results for coat color genes.

Note that some coat color genes are not described in scientific literature and there is no available genetic test for them; they, of course, do not appear here.

Examples of Some Coat Colors

Bay

Bay is the most common coat color of horses. Bay horses have a brown body and black mane, tail, and lower legs.

Chestnut

Chestnut, sometimes called sorrel, is another common color. The fur across the entire body is a coppery reddish color, while the skin remains black.

Black

Black horses are not as common as bay or chestnut, but are not rare either. The entire body is black.

Bay Dun

Before domestication, almost all horses were bay dun. Bay dun horses have black and brown in almost the same pattern as bay horses, but instead of dark, the brown is a much lighter tan color. There is also a dark stripe down the back, which is characteristic of dun.

Supported Languages

• English (US) - all versions
• English (UK) - v 1.5.5+
• Arabic - v 1.9.0+ - Thanks to HigherThanFire
• Chinese - v 1.8.0+ - Thanks to RedVanguard1692
• Danish - v 1.5.3+ - Thanks to KevinBevin and Thea2176
• Dutch - v 1.5.4+ - Thanks to Robbie2345
• German - v 1.5.5+ - Thanks to Regenherz and Hufflepp
• French - v 13.0+ - Thanks to valentin56610
• Polish - v 1.5.4+ - Thanks to Endless
• Portuguese - v 1.5.10+ - Thanks to shoji_sl
• Spanish - v 1.5.9+ - Thanks to 16N1C0
• Russian - v 1.7.1+ - Thanks to nepblwko
• Ukrainian - v 10.0+ - Thanks to Світлана
• Japanese - v 12.1+ - Thanks to Euro