Horse Update

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    "title": "Horse Update",
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    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "July 1, 2013",
            "label": "Release date"
        },
        {
            "field": "(link to Java Edition 1.6.1 article, displayed as Java Edition 1.6.1)",
            "label": "Version(s)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "footer": "<div .4em\"><span [[Redstone Update]]</div>\n\n</div><div .4em\">[[The Update that Changed the World]] <span
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There is a guide for this update!

 

See Java Edition guides/Horse Update for a guide to all of the new features introduced in Horse Update.

The Horse Update is the name for Java Edition 1.6.1, a major update released on July 1, 2013.^[1] It added new features such as horses, leads, coal blocks, carpets, resource packs and a new launcher.

Development began the month after 1.5.1 was released. Eighteen development snapshots were released, from 13w16a to 13w26a. During the development period, 1.5.2 was released. Several iterations of the fourth launcher were released during this time period, from 0.1 to 1.2.2. Nearer the end of the snapshot cycle for the 1.6 update, Mojang focused primarily on fixing bugs, rather than adding new features.

The official name for the update, the Horse Update – was announced a week prior to the 1.6 prerelease on the Minecraft update tumblr (which is viewed in the launcher).

Mojang released the 1.6 pre-release on June 25, 2013. This included an easter egg where mobs named "Dinnerbone" or "Grumm" were flipped upside down. The 1.6.1 pre-release was released on June 28, 2013, three days before the final release.

Horse Update block and item additions

New blocks

• Block of Coal
  • Mineral block crafted using nine pieces of coal.
  • Also acts as furnace fuel, able to smelt 80 items per block.
• Carpet
  • Crafted using two wools of matching color.
  • Can be placed on any block and can be walked on.
• Hardened Clay (now Terracotta)
  • Obtained by smelting clay.
• Hay Bale
  • Crafted using nine pieces of wheat.
  • Can be oriented like a log.
  • Used to feed horses, but not able to breed them.
• Stained Clay (now Stained Terracotta)
  • Crafted using eight stained clay surrounding a matching dye.

New items

• Horse Armor
  • Comes in iron, gold, and diamond.
  • Found in dungeons, Nether fortresses, desert temples, and jungle temples.
  • Used to give protection to horses.
  • Cannot be used on donkeys or mules.
• Lead
  • Crafted using four string and a slimeball.
  • Used to leash mobs around.
  • Can be attached to a fence.
• Name Tag
  • Found in dungeons.
  • Used to rename mobs by renaming the item with an anvil and then using it on a mob.
  • Mobs named do not despawn.
• Spawn egg:
  • Horse Spawn Egg

New mobs

• Horses
  • Rideable mobs found in plains in small groups.
  • Has to be tamed by repeatedly riding the horse, subsequently getting thrown off, until the horse shows heart particles.
    • Can be tamed easier by feeding the horse bread, sugar, hay bales, wheat, apples, golden apples, or golden carrots.
  • Upon taming, a saddle is required to ride the horse.
    • Players can also put on horse armor for protection.
  • Stats (health, speed, and jump height) and color vary between horses.
  • Can be bred using golden apples or golden carrots
  • Drops leather when killed.
• Donkey
  • Rideable mobs found in plains in small groups.
  • Has similar functionality to the horse, but has the ability to put on a chest for storage access.
  • Can be bred using golden apples or golden carrots
  • Drops leather when killed.
• Mule
  • Spawns upon the breeding of a horse and a donkey.
  • Has similar functionality to the donkey.
  • Cannot breed with any other horses, donkeys, and mules.
  • Drops leather when killed.
• Skeleton Horse & Zombie Horse
  • Obtainable only through third-party software.
  • Both considered undead mobs.
  • Neither one can be bred to produce baby offsprings.
  • Skeleton horses drop bones when killed.
  • Zombie horses drop rotten flesh when killed.

New gameplay

• Resource pack
  • Completely replaced texture packs.
  • Allows modifying not only texture, but also sounds, music, font, text, and languages.
• New effects:
  • Absorption
    • Occurs after eating a golden apple or enchanted golden apple.
    • Grants the player 4HP additional health that cannot be replenished.
    • Upon taking damage, absorption health is depleted first before the player's main health.
  • Health Boost
    • Can be given only by commands.
    • Grants the player 4HP that can be filled up.
    • Extra health disappears once the effect is over.
  • Saturation
    • Can be given only by commands.
    • Grants the player 1 () hunger per every tick.

Other additions

• Item and entity attributes.
• 2 new commands and 2 new sub-commands to /gamerule

Notable changes

• New and improved launcher.
• Better chat system.
• Riding mobs tweaked.
• Blocks can no longer be broken with a sword in Creative mode.
• Retextured charcoal and lapis lazuli block.
• Zombies now target the player from further away, and can summon other zombies.
• Villagers now make sounds.

• 1.6.2 enabling spawning of baby zombies and baby zombie pigmen.
• 1.6.4 fixed a bug where structures were not being saved to the world file.

• This is the last version for the third launcher available.
• Because of the new launcher, this version of the game became the first that could auto-update itself.
• In the update poster, the then-unused nitwit or "generic villager" can be seen next to an iron golem, along with an unknown blue robed villager.

• 
  Promotional image (released alongside the update)^[2]
• 
  Bigger version.