Minecraft wiki entry for Things_not_to_do, associated text: Horses are useful in the hilly Overworld, or flat plains, but the Nether is no horse paradise. There are many cliffs horses can fall off of (especially in the Basalt Deltas), ghasts to shoot the player into a sea of lava, magma blocks and soul sand, and the place is one big cave. Players do not usually take a horse when they go mining because it is dangerous, and the Nether should be thought of the same. If the player must use a horse or donkey in the Nether they should take several precautions: