RAPA DAS BESTAS

Rapa das Bestas (The Capture of the Beasts) is the name of an operation that involves cutting the manes of the wild horses who live free at the mountains in a semi-feral state. It is performed in the curros (enclosures which retain the horses) held in various locations in Galicia (Spain). Those horses live in mountains owned by the villages (a form of property derived from the Suevi, around 8th century) and have several owners (private owners, the parish or the village), each year the foals are marked and the adults shaved and deloused, and then freed again to the mountains. I attended this 400 year old festival in the first weekend of July in the small village of Sabucedo. It was a nerve racking moment when I made the decision to enter the arena with my camera and get close to the action !