Is this the ultimate wrestling contest? The incredible battle of strength between wild horses and man

The annual Rapa das Bestas festival in Spain is not for the faint-hearted, as it pits man against horse in an incredible wrestling match.

The 400-year old tradition of Rapa das Bestas, which translates as ‘cropping the beasts’, sees locals attempt to wrestle wild horses to the ground, before cropping their manes.

The horses come from the mountains of Galicia, in the northwestern region of Spain, and are rounded up so that the locals can clip their manes and tails and brand the foals.

Aloitadores struggle with a wild horse during the 400-year-old horse festival in Spain called 'Rapa das bestas'

The aloitadores go in packs of three - one who gets on the horse's back, another who takes hold of the neck, and a third to take the tail

The most famous event is the three-day festival held in the village of San Lorenzo de Sabucedo, where the use of nothing but hands, no tools or ropes, is permitted.

The festival has been condemned by animal rights groups, but locals have defended the festival saying it provides an opportunity to see to the needs of animals that are ill or infected by parasites.

It takes three men (known as ‘aloitadores’) to manage each horse: One who gets on the horse's back; another who takes hold of the neck; and a third to take the tail.