What eight-legged horse belongs to Odin?

Sleipnir is the eight-legged horse belonging to Odin in Norse mythology. He is described in the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda as the finest of all horses, able to carry Odin across land, sea, and sky and sometimes into the realm of the dead.

Sleipnir’s unusual birth is one of Norse myth’s strangest episodes. A builder offers to fortify the gods’ settlement in exchange for Freyja, the sun, and the moon. His powerful stallion, Svaðilfari, does most of the work, so Loki transforms himself into a mare to distract the horse. Loki later gives birth to a grey foal with eight legs: Sleipnir.

The number eight may symbolize extraordinary speed or a supernatural ability to cross between worlds. Some scholars have also compared the eight legs with a funeral bier carried by four people, fitting Sleipnir’s association with journeys to the underworld.

Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi are mythic horses linked with day and night. Grani, a horse descended from Sleipnir’s line, belongs to the hero Sigurd, not Odin.