anyone else find taming a horse in minecraft harder than it should be?

if you want a fast one it comes down to the horse - speed and jump differ per animal. breed two good ones with golden carrots and the foal tends to land somewhere around the parents' stats, sometimes a bit better.

keep getting back on it. no item involved, no food needed, you just mount, get thrown, mount again until the hearts pop and it stops bucking. feeding it golden carrots or golden apples beforehand cuts the number of attempts down a lot. then you still need a saddle before you can steer it anywhere, which is the bit that makes people think the taming didn't take.