Big in Spain: Horse Wrestling

From the country that gave the world bull fighting comes an apple fed tail of galloping delight: horse wrestling.

Rapa das Bestas, or in English the “horse wrestling festival” is an “ancient” annual event held in Galicia, Spain. Untamed horses are gathered in a corral, where men and women of all ages wrestle them to the ground with their bare hands to cut their manes and tales out and brand them. And just because one day of horse wrestling is never enough, the festival goes for three days.

Now I’m no PETA loving hippy, but wrestling horses with your bare hands? WTF?

Sports by Brooks has a galley of pics here, but we managed to dig up a video as well.