Realistic Horse Genetics

Realistic Horse Genetics adds biologically accurate genetics for Minecraft horses.

Colors

Horses can be dun, palomino, bay, black, buckskin, chestnut, gray, roan, white, pinto, leopard spotted, and many other colors. If this is all new to you, don't worry, just breed the colors that you like and there's a good chance you'll get more of them. You may even get an unexpected color from recessive genes.

The color genes include 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 are testable in real life and likewise they can be tested in game by using a book on a horse. There are also hidden genes, not testable, controlling traits with genetics that are not known in real life. Flaxen, seal brown, sooty, rabicano, shade variation, and how quickly or slowly a gray horse changes color are all affected by these hidden genes.

Speed, health, and jump strength

In vanilla Minecraft, it is sometimes easier to just find a good horse than to breed one. With genes controlling the stats, there is actually a reason to breed. Horses will typically spawn with stats that are pretty close to average. However, foals are just as likely to be better than their parents as they are to be worse. This is an important difference from the vanilla system, where once the parents are very good their foals are almost always worse than them. That means once you have good horses, it is easier to breed very good horses with genes than with the vanilla system. In exchange, you need to be careful - there are some pairs of horses that will always produce foals that are exactly as good as them, never better nor worse. This happens if horses are too inbred. You can avoid inbreeding by keeping a larger population of horses, or if your horses are already too inbred you can reduce it by breeding them to an unrelated horse.

All of the usual ways to measure stats still work, plus you can get more detailed info by right clicking a tame horse with a book.

If for whatever reason you want to use the vanilla system, just set "useGeneticStats" to false in the config.

Sizes

Horses can have a wide range of sizes. Most that spawn will be 12-15 hands high, but you can breed to get miniature horses, draft horses, or any size in between. Smaller horses can fit in smaller spaces (sometimes even on boats!) while larger horses 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 whatever reason you want all horses to be the same size, set "enableSizes" to false in the config.

Features

Genes control color, speed, health, jump height, and size, as described above
Non-mendelian genetics including genetic linkage where applicable (read more here)
Put 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 the horses. Mount/dismount them using Ctrl + right click. (new 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 (for Minecraft 1.16.3+ only)
Genders, including pregnancy. Stallions can be bred much more often than mares. Gender is visible from the horse's inventory screen. (Prior to MC 1.19, this was an opt-in 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, Awkward potion as the base and add a Poisonous Potato.

Opt-in features, not included by default but edit the config if you want them (if multiplayer make sure client and server configs match):

All horses are trained to ground tie and will stay still while saddled (since version 1.2.1, set "enableGroundTie" to true)
Foals can grow gradually into their adult size and shape (since version 1.2.6, set "foalsGrowGradually" to true)
Change how long foals take to grow up. By default it's one day as in vanilla, but I think two days works nicely. (new in version 1.2.6, change "growTime" to the desired value)
Configurable foods, new in version 12.5. The default now allows you to breed with hay, as an alternative to golden carrots.

For tack, I recommend Misteriawolfe's Horse Tack mod.

Right clicking a horse with a book allows you to see detailed information. The first two pages show estimates of traits affecting speed, health, and jump strength. To get more exact info I would recommend also measuring like you would without this mod, by jumping horses over different heights of blocks, racing them against each other, etc.

This page shows genetic test results for the color genes.

Note some color genes have not been described in scientific literature and do not have a genetic test available; these of course do not show up here.

Here's some examples of a select few coat colors:

Bay

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

Chestnut

Chestnut, sometimes called sorrel, is another common color. Fur across the whole horse is a coppery reddish color, while the skin is still black.

Black

Black horses are not as common as bay or chestnut, but not uncommon. The whole 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 being dark the brown is a much lighter tan. There is also a dark stripe down the back, which is characteristic of dun.

Supported languages

English (US) --- Realistic Horse Genetics --- all versions
English (UK) --- Realistic Horse Genetics --- v 1.5.5+
Arabic --- اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ‎ --- جينات حصان واقعية --- v 1.9.0+ --- Thanks to HigherThanFire
Chinese --- 漢語 --- 真实马匹遗传 --- v 1.8.0+ --- Thanks to RedVanguard1692
Danish --- Dansk --- Realistisk heste gentik --- v 1.5.3+ --- Thanks to KevinBevin and Thea2176
Dutch --- Nederlands --- Realistische Paarden Genetica --- v 1.5.4+ --- Thanks to Robbie2345
German --- Deutsch --- Realistische Pferde-Genetik --- v 1.5.5+ --- Thanks to Regenherz and Hufflepp
French --- Français --- Génétique réaliste du cheval --- v 13.0+ --- Thanks to valentin56610
Polish --- Polski --- Realistyczna Końska Genetyka --- v 1.5.4+ --- Thanks to Endless
Portuguese --- Português (Brasil) --- Genética Realista de Cavalos --- v 1.5.10+ --- Thanks to shoji_sl
Spanish --- Español (España) --- Caballos Genéticos --- v 1.5.9+ --- Thanks to 16N1C0
Russian --- русский (Россия) --- Реалистичная Генетика Лошадей --- v 1.7.1+ --- Thanks to nepblwko
Ukrainian --- Українська --- Реалістична генетика коней --- v 10.0+ --- Thanks to Світлана
Japanese --- 日本語 --- 馬の遺伝学 --- v 12.1+ --- Thanks to Euro

Thanks to dexpere for commissioning the herd behaviour update!
Thanks to faainleog for many lovely textures!

Thanks to RosaNera for drawing the rabicano texture

Thanks to Rambonata for drawing the sabino tobiano texture

Thanks to Navia for providing compatibility textures for Oh The Biomes You'll Go armor

Thanks to Mnesikos for helping back port changes to 1.12

Thanks to OutrightWings for backporting some changes to 1.18.2

The horse model is based on Minecraft's 1.12 model, originally created by DrZhark