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Rapa Das Bestas - Spanish Horse Wrestling Festival
An ancient festival in Galicia Spain, the Rapa das bestas is an old practice of ‘Taming the Beasts’ and is thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Men and women alike would wrestle the untamed horses to the ground with their hands and arms to cut their manes and tails.
It’s a noble tradition where man pits his strength against a beast without ropes or weapons and only using his bare hands and courage. This Spanish fiesta goes on for three days of which after the horses are sent up to the hillside again and it does not involve cruelty and death.
17 more pics of the Rapa Das Bestas festival after the jump.
Source: Blame It On The Voices
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July 31st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Funny.. that looks pretty cruel to me.. :l
July 31st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Cruel, stupid, idiot.
What they wnt to proove?
Yes, we are smarter than horses…?
I dont think so.
Why not to put their children there to fight with bears?
f*ck that stupid festival..
August 1st, 2008 at 5:55 am
what the hell is this crap . People are f*cking idiots !!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 6:06 am
This is not good. This might be a tradition, but this is also a very bad experience for a horse. Today we don´t need to handle horses like this. I hope people don´t look at this “tradition” as a good thing.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:20 am
okay this is to much! ..Fighting with horses? ..whats wrong those guyse nedd some theraphy i’m not kidding ..itðs just sick! ..that people that are fighting horses for christ sakes should be in their own ring and check how it is to be beeten up of two or three horses!
Okay i’m from Iceland and i ride horses every day and belive me i’ve been throogh many things with horses ..all they have to do is get into a mood and your dead!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:16 am
You sick freaks, you call this entertainment. What the fuck is wrong with you guys. You are hurting the horses grapping their Tales what the fuck. You may all die in hell
August 1st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
poor animals and i mean the humans, they should be sacrificed cuz’ they are a waste of brain capacity -.- this is pointless
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
You people are ridiculous - who gives a flying **** about the wild horses?
at least they aren’t killing them.
whinny bitches - I swear to god the way some animal lovers act you’d think they’d rather they be dead than an animal.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
yeah, theyre not dying, but still. its painful for them to be wrestled like that. How would you like it if someone was beating you up? wait, you’re not dying so its okay, right?
no its not… Its wrong
and while these people are following “tradition”, they might aswell follow that “sacraficing human life “tradition too. since it is pretty entertaining to watch pain in action. (sarcasm)
August 16th, 2008 at 6:25 am
This is article is wrong from the beginning….this festival is not about wrestling or taming the horses,.
These pictures don´t reflect the real instinct and purpouse of the festival.
The wild horses are “picked” up from the mountain and guided to that kind of square. The purpouse and history of this tradition was to keep track of the different group of horses that lived in a certain area and also it´suppossed to help the horses by cutting their hair, and this way they don´t get it stuck in bushes and things like that.
They only thing the humans do is grabbing the horses and cutting its hair, not beating or wrestling them… like this pictures may portray
You can check this out: http://www.galinor.es/galeria/rapa-e.html
August 19th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Mmmm, nice festival maybe they should have a festival where horses trample on these people…lol
August 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Great photos and respectful text, but…
Well, this is all really full of “f**king idots” and “sick stupid freaks” seeking for “entertainment” -¿?- who have to “die in hell” but this ones are the people that comments in blogs without any idea of what they are saying.
The “rapa das bestas” -Crop the beast`s hair- is a festival in which possibly the last wild horses of Europe are marked by its owners by cropping their manes -see the last photo-, without fire, AND NOTHING MORE. And after that, the animals are set in the wild again, to the next year. THAT IS ALL (Well, and the music and wonderful food and wine). The “wrestling” -like in the photos- happens when they try to immobilize a horse so it doesn´t hurt anybody. Or itself. Nobody wants to hurt his or hers own horse.
Is a bad idea to speak about something, specially when insisting in what is right or wrong or who is this or that, without knowing what you are saying.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:12 am
Wow, great comments on these pics. It seems people are either outraged or outraged at the people that are outraged.
This tradition probably does no good. Does it do harm? Is there potential for people or the horses to get hurt?
August 30th, 2008 at 4:56 am
In USA the cattle its been marked by iron incadescent.. that’s better, isn’t? Look at you own shit, and then, you may criticize about another ones.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:34 am
This broke my heart, horses are the most beautiful, noble wonderfully trusting animals. How on earth can these poor excuse for humans do this to such a wonderful animal (or any animal)
The write up states NO CRUELTY INVOLVED???? are they blind or stupid? things like this must be stopped along with all the other barbaric things like bull fighting, dog fighting, cock fighting and all of the other crazy cruel animal hurting activities!
And to Michael….. please tell me what is to be gained from this cruelty the horses have no need to have there mains and tails chopped off after being scared half to death? please open your mind and understad how horrific this must be for thoese poor horses.
And Alaric ….. you say it does no harm but if you know anyting about horses you will know the look in those horses eyes means they are full of fear and that is harm! Why own a horse if you leave it to be wild? it either is wild in wich case leave it alone or its owned by someone in wich case care for it, love it and gain its trust then it will happily give love back to you and let you cut it’s tail if you so wish!!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am
i hate why your doing this is because it has cruelty and its really really stupid gay.
December 15th, 2008 at 3:13 am
POOR HORSES !! !! !!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Wow. and this is still going on today , And we dont think it is, But we are putting our little children at rick, to getting hurt i really dont think it right to be playing with the horse,like this Thay are stronger then us, So stop and think before you start playing with more power then you can handle. and putting our children at risk.
April 24th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Sadistic, unconscious, totally unnecessary. Cut their hair so it doesn’t get caught on bushes??? Give me a break!!! Horse’s manes and tails pull out readily, as those of us who have horses know. Why do you need to hot brand any animal? If you feel you need to “mark” it, use freeze branding. In America and Canada wild horses belong to everyone. They don’t have to be defaced. These people pictured are steeped in a cult of ego, of machismo and of narcissism. They have no empathy for other life forms. They are having fun, but look into the eyes of these animals. It is very easy to hurt a horse’s neck and pull its back muscles during falls. VERY wrong to do this. Those bullfights too…it’s hard to imagine this is 2009 and not the middle ages.
Tradition is sometimes another word for mass hypnosis.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
This is so mean everyone who does this should die you are so cruel i cannot believe what i am seeing i hope someone does this to u i just cannot believe this God put these animals here for a reson but it’s definately not for this! These are beautiful animals STOP being so cruel!
June 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Once a year the wild horses are taken to the “curro” where they are grabbed and immobilised so they can be marked by cutting their hair. Then they’re released. THAT IS ALL. As a matter of fact, many of them do seem to know this “ritual” and walk towards the “curro” themselves when the date approaches.
Cutting the hair was believed to be in the horses’ best interest (hygiene) and it’s a way to keep track on them. The tradition goes back hundreds of years and it’s also believed to be related to the Celtic adoration of the horse; in many ways, in the “rapa”, one admires and appreciates the beauty and the strenght of the wild horse.
The “rapa” is fast and the animals are not beaten or mistreated, other than being grabbed for a few seconds. There are vets present, who actually take this chance to check the state of the horses (something they can’t do the rest of the year ‘cos the horses are in the mountains roaming free).
In any other country these horses would have been shot/killed or tamed to serve as domestic horses (slaves) to humans.
Unlike other barbaric events involving animals around the world, the horses are not drugged or receive electric shocks or anything like that (go do your research). They’re at their 100% and they kick humans as much as humans try to grab them.
If you feel offended by this then you better stop eating fish and meat, stop hunting, stop the damn bullfights (the “rapa” is in Galicia, where bullfights have no following cos they’re indeed cruel) and so on. Do you even have any idea of what’s going on in a normal regular standard farm??
Do not talk about what you do not know. Do not extract conclusions from a few selected snapshots. Go there, see it with your own eyes and understand the respect, care and admiration people feel for those wild FREE horses. Spend the day there and share the love locals have for these amazing beautiful beasts.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Hello,
It is not uncommon for outsiders to not understand traditions of other cultures and provide an opinion that may not be so well worded. I have to say I agree with other writers that the horses are indeed scared out of their brains. It can not be disputed that the horses are scared because it is not hard to tell they are from the pictures. Horses are prey animals and people are more like predators when you look at how the two species live, act and communicate. For a ‘people’ it is normal to grab somebody by the arm and force his will upon somebody else. Horses don’t grab each other by the head but drive each other along by the hind quarters. To be grabbed by the head is telling the horse “I am ging to kill you and eat you”. The horse does not think this, it knows this as it is programmed by mother Nature.
Next the horse fights for it’s life. There is no two ways about it. The horse simply does not understand the people mean good because they are communicating to the horse that they intend to kill it.
Times change and was was OK to do 2000 years ago may not be so OK to do today and perhaps there is no need as there may well be a gentler way. If the people from Galicia really love these horses and would understand how the horse feels and what this practise does to these horses ability to not fear man, I would like to suggest the following;
Round up your horses in your square. Place several tables and chairs in the square among the horses and have your festival, food and drink among them, but don’t pay them any attention. Sooner or later the horses wil become curious and will start to investigate you. As you are not touching them, not looking them in the eye or making them move in any way, they will learn to trust you . After some time ( this could take a day or a week) you will be able to touch them and trim their manes without the horse objecting to it as your behaviour causes the horses no alarm. (Don’t forget to feed them and provide water for them as well). The measure of ‘a man’s’ strength against beast’ may have shifted to ‘understanding and skill’. Surely their must be some good horseman and woman in Galicia. Surely they would know of a more considerate way towards the horse and the people involved would feel just as good about their new strength expressed in a different fashion. I am sure it would be a delight ful event to see you trim the manes of Mother’s Nature finest creature with no fear in their eyes.
Best regards from New Zealand.
Peter
July 6th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
This is absolutely disgusting….’spanish heritage’ ….load of shit. People who do this are completely brain dead. These poor horses are taken from their natural environment to be tackled and practically beaten to the ground, completely traumatised, and then just put back in the mountains again. Are these people completely stupid? Do they think that horses will know that ‘oh okay..all these men are jumping on me and tackling me to the ground, trying to cut my mane and tail, for some insane reason, and are also grabbing at my neck and head, but they’re not going to hurt me’.
Its absolutely horrible.
The article states that “it does not involve cruelty or death”, thats not what the pictures show.
In one of the photos…the whites of the horses eyes are showing..now you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure the emotion that the horse is experiencing.
Something serious should be done about this.
ps. they say that all that is being done to the horse is that the mane and tail are being cut off, but the tail is its only defensive of keeping the flies or other insects off of it in the wild..do you think they have insect repellent?
And the horse is severely traumitised for the rest of its life….and then also remeber that this festival is every year…so the horses are then captured again the next year.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:10 am
What the hell is this s*** , can we say Cruel. Just look the the horses reactions. These are wild horses that have never had any human contact. And people are jumping all over them, pulling pushing ect.
This is Horrible.
And i totally agree with-
againstanimalcruelty
August 6th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
to Someone, Galician, and Peter, i dont know if you have horses but my mom and step-dad have been rescuing them from torture like this. the look in the eyes of these horses is nothing but pain, torture, fear, and hurt. i have been around horses since before i can remember, and the first thing you need to know about horses is that they can get hurt very easily both phisicaly and mentaly. this is a very tramatic event to the horses. just imagine this for a moment : your a horse in the wilderness minding your own business then all of a suden your rounded up with the rest of your herd taken to an unknown place and put in a padock too small for the amount of horses there are then some human lunges at you grabs your head and starts to pull you down to the ground, all the while an other one is pulling your tail (think about how much it hurts tohave someone try to pull your hair out all at once) finaly they get you to the ground and you are put thruogh the final indignity of having your beautiful mane cut jagedly by these awful human captors, then lets say it happened every year for the rest of your natural life. now tell me WHAT IN THE HELL WOULD YOU BE FEELING, SERIOUSLY!!!
August 10th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
you said this is idiot but in yours countries have more traditional idiots festivals ¬¬
August 14th, 2009 at 3:30 am
I have mixed feelings about this whole thing. On one hand, it seems quite unnecessary and the horses to seem quite terrified to me. I am by no means an expert on horses or the culture from which these photos were posted, which is why I’m throwing no real judgment around here.
On the other hand, I understand that traditions are important to a culture and a community. I fully understand this and most of the postings I’ve seen from people who’ve actually, you know, been there (shocking!) tend to like the festival and the goings-on.
I’m just a little confused about some things. The need to “mark” the animals by cutting their hair seems silly.. not just because it is a very temporary form of marking, but it also has no “personal” identification (either for the horse or for who marked it). Also: at this blog post about the same event:
http://jonstraveladventures.blogspot.com/2009/07/rapa-das-bestas-hairdressers-sans.html
The third photo on the page clearly shows a branded horse on the lower right (which throws out all of those comments about this being a more humane for than branding, because it’s only done in addition to it). If I am wrong, please correct me on this.
The other thing that I’m confused about is, the “vibe”, I guess, that I’ve been given by some of the more intelligible comments on this post, is that the horses mane and tail are cut for the horse, to prevent it from getting caught in brush and the like… but unless Spain doesn’t have insects, it would be much more humane to allow the horse it’s tail… it evolved that handy fly-swatter for a reason and I feel bad for the horse that doesn’t have it or insect repellent.
Otherwise: a note to comment-posters. If you cannot spell half of the words that you attempt to write in your post, do not know how to use or have lost both “shift” keys and the “Caps lock” key, feel the need to use the previously stated caps lock in excessive amounts, or feel the need to quote a big man in the sky to prove your point (”He” apparently put animals on this Earth to serve man, which is kinda the same as what you’re arguing against, hypocrite)… Please, just don’t post. It’s hard to believe your point of view in this type of post and everyone is more likely to simply ignore you (or at least that’s what they should do). Threads would be much better if the intelligent people just ignored the rest of the mass.
I apologize if that last part offended you… but really, if it did? You know you have a problem.
(Any actual answers to my questions would be great, thank you!)
August 20th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
All these years and these people are still doing the same cruel “tradition”. Horses survived quite well without mankind cutting their hair, thank you, this is just macho thing.
Thor’s hammer, are they still practicing medicine in that local like they did 2000 years ago?
August 26th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Firstoff i can’t even begin to start on this subject… well.. you don’t cut off a horses main and tail to “Help it” thats one idiot talking about things he doesn’t understand. the main and tail provide shade and help the animal survive in the wild.. if you cut it off the horses eyes will be eaten so bad from the flies and bugs it won’t beable to see.. 2nd i don’t think there doing anything worse than the way the horses are treated on the racetracks here in the US or at any rodeo.. not that i am trying to say i think it’s wrong how there treated. animals are tools. simple. we eat them. use them to do work for us. thats the way it is. i also feel it’s ridiculous for people to say these people are wrong. people still butcher turkeys on thanksgiving. ham on christmas and use horses to plow feilds all day long in amish community’s. you should be complaining at them also. ohh yea, how about the way the chickens are treated that provide the eggs you ate with breakfast while commenting on this someone should go talk about that! the thing i think is funny is so many people are upset about this but you have a drug dealer in your home town selling pot/crack/herion to the kids of your community. you want to know whats going to matter more in the long run? waste your time bitching about stuff like this…
September 19th, 2009 at 2:56 am
i think everyone of u need a life half of you are pussies that care too much about fucking animals and the other half are just retarded i love horse wrestling especially the sound the horse makes when i tear its tail off with my bare hands
September 19th, 2009 at 2:57 am
I Think you panzis should stop complaining. Your all a bunch of jealous wimps because none of you could wrestle a small dog to the ground on your best day. grow a pair of balls and find something better to do than bitch about things you could never do.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:55 am
I completely agree with robertsmom on this one, not just because we are married. Stop bitching and whining over the horses, they are horses. They fight each other in the wild anyway so this is just training them to improve their combat skills. Obviously none of you could wrestle the horses so you started complaining, talking about animal cruelty and whatnot. Animal cruelty is not helping horses out by trimming their tails, it’s not corralling them to enjoy their beauty in a natural way, and it’s not testing their wits in a true and fair test of man vs. animal. The real animal cruelty is when you vegan pussies don’t eat the meat from animals which were raised on a farm and spent their whole lives looking forward to the point they would be put on your sandwich. You’re letting down the animal community, and it is your vegan bitching that causes people to become meatatarians. I also agree with my coleague ricky martin because the sound of tail ripping is both exquisite and stimulating. The great Chris Simmons was right when he said animals are tools, except he missed the part where you can’t eat a tool.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Its me again. yes i agree with my loving husband. They are horses for fucks sake. Have you ever really paid attention to the sound a horse makes when you slap its eye with a firm open palm? Its breath taking. Me and my friends have an underground horse wrestling ring on my uncles farm. You think im scared of all you animal loving shit bags? You think im scared of PETA? I wrestle horses for profit… AND WIN