Rapa das Bestas Sabucedo

Sabucedo's Rapa das Bestas brings semi-feral garrano horses down from the hills each July into a stone enclosure, the curro, where men called aloitadores subdue each animal entirely by hand to trim its mane and tail before release, a centuries-old population-management tradition rather than a staged spectacle.

Sabucedo's Rapa das Bestas each July brings semi-feral horses, known locally as garranos, down from the surrounding hills and into a stone enclosure called the curro, where local men known as aloitadores subdue each animal entirely by hand, without ropes, saddles, or restraints beyond their own strength and technique, to trim its mane and tail and apply health treatments before the horses are released back to the hills.