A quite unremarkable grassy knoll just off Forest Rd, near Flock House, will, at dawn on Monday, become the site for a unique Anzac Day commemorative service.
At the same time, in hundreds of towns throughout New Zealand, thousands of people will gather to remember those who lost their lives in war.
And while the ceremony on that hilltop, west of Bulls, will have a similar purpose, its focus will be on the thousands of New Zealand's four-legged "soldiers" - the genuine war horses that served (and died) in many war theatres from South Africa to North Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The event is the initiative of Bulls resident Greg Bradley, inspired by his interest in horses and his passion for history.
It is appropriate that the site for this first dawn service for horses is the monument that stands atop the Forest Rd knoll.
It marks the last resting place of "Bess" who carried her master, Colonel C G (Guy) Powles, of the Mounted Rifles Regiment, into battle in War World 1 in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, France and Germany.
Bess was one of relatively few New Zealand horses, which mainly served with the Mounted Rifles Regiment, to be returned to their homeland after the war. Most were either destroyed or given away or sold to the people in the countries occupied by those horse-back soldiers.
How or why Col Powles was able to bring Bess home is not clear. But she had been his only mount on active service since 1914 and both had survived numerous bloody campaigns.
Records show that Bess was the only one of more than 3000 horses dispatched with the first New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914, to have remained with one master.
Powles himself was a much-decorated soldier who left New Zealand as a captain and won promotion in the field.
When Col Powles became one of the first principals at Flock House Farm Training Institute, in 1922, he brought Bess with him and continued to ride her until her death "whilst on duty" in 1934 at a remarkable 24-years of age.
The somewhat elaborate monument, which Col Powles erected in memory of his trusty steed, features two inset, marble slabs engraved in Arabic script and English. It has stood largely un-noticed for the past 70 years but was recently given the New Zealand Historic Places Trust's highest classification - Category 1.
In part, that event sparked Mr Bradley's interest not only in the "mystery" of Bess and the colonel but also in the Mounted Rifles Regiment and its unique and largely forgotten contribution to New Zealand's military history.
The Anzac Day dawn service is an integral part of the effort to revive the long-defunct New Zealand Mounted Rifles Association and acknowledge the special service given by those soldiers ... and their horses.
Mr Bradley said the service would feature prayers for the fallen soldiers and the reading of poems for the horses, written by people who had served in or with the Mounted Rifles.
"To the soldiers who rode them the horses were comrades. So it will be a service of dedication and remembrance of the animals and soldiers and relevant to the Mounted Rifles Regiment," Mr Bradley said.
On parade during the ceremony will be at least one horse and rider made up in the original World War 1 regalia of the Mounted Rifles Regiment.
Among the guests at the ceremony will be Michael Powles, a grandson of Colonel Powles, whose own son, Sir Guy Powles, became New Zealand's first ombudsman.
Remembering fallen war horses
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