Bleu Horses

Grazing a ridge overlooking a rural stretch of Highway 287 in south-west Montana, the herd of metal equines known as the Bleu Horses can be easily mistaken as the real thing despite many of them being much larger than any real horse.

These larger-than-life-sized equines, while realistic looking to any passing motorist, are actually sculpted of steel. Local artist Jim Dolan installed the sculptures in 2013 on land donated by the Wheat Montana grain company. In total there are 39 of the metallic creatures on the site some standing up to eight feet tall at the shoulder. The creatures are posed in a variety of positions from foals suckling at their mother’s milk, to alert steeds, to supine equines, each armature life-like enough to fool at a distance. While the name of the piece is taken from a variety of equine known as a “blue horse” each of the beasts is painted with blue and white stripes to give their forms a sense of depth as well as manes made of polyester rope that can sway realistically in the wind.

Like other monumental rural roadside sculptures, such as Chile’s Hand of the Desert, Bleu Horses may be enjoyed by thousands of visitors every month, even if just for a few seconds at a time.