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Photographed by Carter Keith, 1948

From earliest times white horses are mythologised with exceptional properties, transcending the normal world by having wings (Pegasus from Greek mythology) or having horns (the unicorn). As part of its legendary dimension, the white horse in myth may be depicted with seven heads (Uchaishravas), or eight feet (Sleipnir), sometimes in groups or singly. There are also white horses who are divinatory, who prophesy or warn of danger.

As a rare or distinguished symbol, typically a white horse bears the hero or god figure in ceremonial roles or in triumph over negative forces. Herodotus reported that white horses were held as sacred animals in the Achaemenid court of Xerxes the Great (ruled 486-465 BC)while in other traditions the reverse happens when it was sacrificed to the gods.

In more than one tradition, the white horse carries patron saints or the world saviour in the end times (Islam and Hinduism), is associated with the sun or sun chariot (Ossetia) or bursts into existence in a fantastic way, emerging from the sea or a lightning bolt.