In Bleu Horses, how is the Development and installation discussed?
The sculptures are realistic enough to appear live from a distance, but are intended to be somewhat "impressionistic." To emphasize the elegance of the horse, the legs of the horse sculptures are one-third longer than those of real horses, and they average 8 feet (2.4 m) high at the withers.  Dolan said, "They're symbols of horses and what horses mean to Montanans. But at first sight, I want people to believe they are real horses, just for a second."  They are posed in a variety of realistic positions from foals suckling mother's milk, to alert steeds, to supine equines. According to Dolan, "I tried to place the horses the way I see the horses living in their natural environment according to their nature."Twelve of the horses have their heads placed on ball bearings and rigged with gears and pulley systems so their necks or torsos move in the wind. Each horse is painted blue with accents of black and white to give their forms a sense of depth. They have manes and tails made of polyester rope that has been unraveled and attached so it moves realistically in the wind. The 4,000 feet (1,200 m) of rope needed for the horses was unraveled by hand by the employees at Reach, Inc., a supported workplace for people with developmental disabilities. Dolan said, "They really enjoyed doing it, and when I told them what the ropes were for, they felt like they were involved in something bigger than just the job. So those people, they’re part of this, too.” The horses were placed on the land by having long stakes welded to their hooves and placed into holes created with a jackhammer. A tractor was used to place each sculpture in its precise location.
horse manes ball bearing jackhammer foal withers tails