SADDLE

A saddle is not a farm drop and not a crafting-table item you can reliably reach in survival, so a Leatherworker at master asking 6 emeralds is, for most players, simply what a saddle costs. Fishing and chest loot both hand one over occasionally, but neither is something you can aim at, which leaves the trade as the only source you can actually plan around.

That single Leatherworker offer is also the whole market. No other job on this site lists a saddle at any tier, so finding one villager of the right profession at the right level is the entire hunt, not a matter of picking the best of several sellers.

One seller, one price, no competition. A Leatherworker at master charges 6 emeralds for 1 saddle, and since the figure is fixed rather than rolled, a second Leatherworker at the same tier quotes exactly the same number.

No villager buys a saddle back off a player. The row only runs the one direction, emeralds out of your stack and a saddle into your inventory.

Saddle sells for as little as 6 emeralds, from the Leatherworker at the Master tier, and 4 of the other 5 cost less. The price is fixed rather than rolled, so a second Leatherworker will quote you exactly the same.

The Leatherworker at its master tier asks 6 emeralds for a saddle. 8 of the 72 villagers that pay emeralds, emptied out:

6 jungle boats against 180 flint for the same 6 emeralds, 30 times the carrying, and the shortest wait is the Butcher at 3.8 real minutes of shelf, gathering not counted.

The saddle sits on the Leatherworker's top tier rather than anywhere near its opening shelf, so a villager needs to climb all the way to master, the last rung there is, before the offer can appear at all.

Once open, the slot sells 1 saddle at a time for 12 uses before locking, and a restock brings back the identical price rather than rolling a new one.

12 saddles close out the slot, and the Leatherworker needs 2 real minutes back at its cauldron before the offer reopens. A Minecraft day runs 20 real minutes, room for exactly two of those refills.

One Leatherworker camped for a full day is worth 24 saddles, for 144 emeralds spent, the hard ceiling on a single villager no matter how long you keep waiting around.

Clearing the shelf: one Leatherworker sells 12 saddles before it has to restock, 72 emeralds for the full slot.

Where the emeralds come from: the same Leatherworker pays an emerald per 4 scutes.

Cure before a big buy: 72 emeralds for one full slot is enough that curing a zombie Leatherworker first, which cuts its prices permanently, pays for the golden apple many times over. How curing works.

Also on the Leatherworker's list: leather, leather leggings, leather tunic, flint, leather cap, and leather boots.

There is no crafting recipe for a saddle in survival, which is the whole reason villagers selling one matter. The alternatives are chests in dungeons, mineshafts, temples and villages, fishing one up as treasure, or killing a ravager, and none of those can be planned around.

Once you have one it never wears out. A horse, a donkey or a mule takes it directly, a pig needs a carrot on a stick to steer, and a strider in the Nether needs a warped fungus on a stick. Taking the saddle back off returns the item intact.

Horses, donkeys, mules and striders all take one, and so does a pig, which is where the carrot on a stick comes in. A camel takes one too and carries two riders, which no other mount does.

A strider with a saddle is the only sensible way to cross a lava lake, and it is steered with a warped fungus on a stick rather than a carrot.

The saddle is never consumed. Take it back off the animal and it is the same saddle, so one is genuinely enough unless you keep several mounts ready at once.