Sleipnir distinguished Muria dies, and provides a verse: Davidson adds that the representation of Odin's steed as eight-legged could arise naturally out of such an image, and that "this is in accordance with the picture of Sleipnir as a horse that could bear its rider to the land of the dead." Ulla Loumand cites Sleipnir and the flying horse Hófvarpnir as "prime examples" of horses in Norse mythology as being able to "mediate between earth and sky, between Ásgarðr, Miðgarðr and Útgarðr and between the world of mortal men and the underworld." The "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture" theorizes that Sleipnir's eight
Horse worship a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech. This bears some resemblance to the Norse mythology reference to the gender-changing Loki having turned himself into a mare and given birth to Sleipnir, "the greatest of all horses". Tacitus (Germania) mentions the use of white horses for divination by the Germanic tribes: In Gallo-Roman times, the worship of Epona was widespread in the north-western portions of the Roman Empire. The Welsh legend of Rhiannon and the Irish legend of Macha, although first recorded in Christian times, may indicate memories of horse worship. The white horse of Rhiannon is another example