Photo by @davidalanharvey. Sabucedo, Spain. Here in Galicia once per year wild horses are rounded up to cut their manes. The manes are cut for two reasons. First, to prevent horses getting tangled and fatally trapped in the underbrush. Second, the hair is used for fine paintbrushes. Here corralled, the horses may fight or try to mate. They are not corralled for long and are returned to the wild Galicia countryside very quickly. Normally I post pictures on NatGeo Instagram of work I am doing right now. This is a retro picture. I post some retro pictures because I think many in the new Instagram audience appreciate the context of a photographers work. My work in the Iberian Peninsula has gone on for 30 years or so and involves the Portuguese and Spanish migration into the Americas. This has resulted in several NatGeo articles, and two books. Cuba and Divided Soul. This particular photograph has appeared in countless photo books and hung on many gallery walls over the years. It is symbolic of both Spanish machismo and conquest. It was indeed the horses from this part of Spain which were used by the conquistadores in the Americas. Without the horse, the Spanish would have had no advantage over the indigenous tribes in what is now Mexico. The horses of course came to Iberia from Arabia during the 700 years of occupation by the Moors. #galicia #wildhorses #spain
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