Bleu Horses

Three Forks, Montana, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Bleu Horses is a herd of 39 life-sized blue metal horse sculptures by Montana artist Jim Dolan, installed in 2013 on a 160-acre hillside beside Highway 287 north of Three Forks. Dolan describes the herd, which stands without a sign, as his gift to the people of Montana.

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Bleu Horses

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Approximate location · 45.893° N, 111.552° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Drivers on Highway 287 north of Three Forks often take the herd on the hillside for real animals, which is exactly what the artist hoped for.

The Bleu Horses are 39 life-sized sculptures by Jim Dolan of Belgrade, Montana, placed in 2013 across a 160-acre parcel of sloping prairie beside the highway, just north of mile marker 104. According to Montana Free Press in 2023, nobody commissioned them. Dolan had told Montana State University, which let him pay in-state tuition as a student, that he would be an asset to the people of Montana, and he says he always meant to make one large project for the state. He worked on the herd for about three years from 2010, during the recession, buying steel when he could afford it. Both the artist's website and the news coverage describe the herd as his gift to Montana.

The horses are built from thick cut sheets of metal covered in truck-bed liner for texture and painted in shades of blue; "bleu" is the French spelling, chosen partly because the plain-English web address was taken. NBC Montana reported in 2020 that most stand about seven feet tall at the shoulder and weigh roughly 150 to 350 pounds each. Many have gears and pulleys so that necks or torsos move in the wind, and their manes and tails are made of unwound rope. Dolan placed them in groups, the way real horses gather, and said the site has no sign partly because he wants people to think they are real horses.

Shortly after installation, three horses were stolen. Montana Free Press reported a $5,000 reward and that the horses were recovered a few months later.

Montana Free Press described an unmarked pull-off and a thin trail up the hill in 2023. In 2023 the land was privately owned, so take care with the trail and the land.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A herd of blue metal horses on a hillside beside Highway 287. Visible from Highway 287, according to NBC Montana in 2020. In 2023 Montana Free Press described a pull-off, with no sign, and a thin trail up the hill. In 2023 the land was private, with no fences.

ACCESS

On a hillside beside Highway 287 just north of mile marker 104, north of Three Forks, on private land (as of 2023). In 2023 a pull-off and thin trail led up the hill. Montana Free Press reported no fences and no sign in 2023.

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Our Lady of the Rockies

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77 km away

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