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Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse, the finest steed in all the worlds, able to gallop over sea and sky and between the living and the dead. Loki gave birth to it.
What is Sleipnir?
Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse, the finest steed in all the worlds, able to gallop over sea and sky and to carry its rider between the realms of the living and the dead. Grey and tireless, it is the mount on which the Allfather crosses the nine worlds.
How Sleipnir was born
Sleipnir's origin lies in one of Loki's schemes. When a giant builder threatened to finish Asgard's wall and claim Freyja, the sun and the moon as payment, Loki turned himself into a mare to lure away the giant's powerful stallion and spoil the work. From that union Loki later bore Sleipnir and gave the eight-legged foal to Odin — one of the trickster's stranger gifts to the gods.
Its rider is Odin, its mother Loki; the rune of the horse is Ehwaz.
Questions
How did Odin get Sleipnir?
Loki, as a mare, lured away a giant builder's stallion, later gave birth to the foal and gave it to Odin.
Why does Sleipnir have eight legs?
The myths do not explain it. It marks the horse as the fastest of all.