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20th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
RAPA DAS BESTAS

Rapa das Bestas 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 and that are performed in the curros (enclosed 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 foal are marked and the adults shaved and deloused, and then freed again to the mountains. The best known is the Rapa das Bestas of Sabucedo, in the city hall of A Estrada, which lasts three days: the First Saturday, Sunday and Monday in July. In fact, the name given to the celebration (Rapa das Bestas of Sabucedo), while in most places speaking about curros.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2021
Date Uploaded: 09.2022
Photo Location: Spain
Camera: Canon EOS R6
Copyright: © Javier Arcenillas