Dunedin residents have been wowed by the sight of 20 black horses galloping along the shoreline of Tomahawk Beach.
Local woman Dee Sorrell captured the stunning moment as the herd splashed through the shallows on Sunday morning.
She told Newshub it was a sight to behold.
"They had two big pens and almost a little racetrack and they'd been practicing with the horses these last few days, getting the horses used to running in the water," she said.
"There were more horses today, it was hard to see in the dark, but I think there were about 20.
"When they let them go, I swear to God I almost cried. It was just so unbelievably gorgeous to see all these black horses galloping flat-out down the beach in the surf."
Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie confirmed the horses were being filmed as part of an international production.
The production is understood to be an advert for the UK-based Lloyds Banking Group.
Ms Sorrell had seen the production preparing and practicing since last Wednesday.
"A couple of days ago I'd seen some horses on the beach and didn't know what it was about, but I grew up riding horses, I love horses, so I took my camera along and took a bunch of photos," she said.
"Today I happened to be up really early and I saw a note on Facebook saying they were setting up for the horses today, and this was at like, 6 o'clock in the morning.
"I thought crikey, this might be the big day, so I threw some clothes on and away I went down to the beach. It was still pretty dark and it was wet and raining but they were all there and it [was] this massive production, it was just huge."
Newshub has approached Lloyds Banking Group for comment.
Newshub.
