It’s a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, where two stallions fight over a female to ring the Chinese new year. And when it’s the Year of the Horse, the fights are considered to be even more significant. They’re held in small villages across southern China and have been condemned by animal rights groups, including Hong-Kong based Animals Asia. But those who participate in the events defend the fights and insist they take care of the animals.

7 year old Soni has a basket of coal lifted onto her head by her mother, 28 year old Savita, after having scavenged coal illegally from an open-cast coal mine in the village of Bokapahari on February 08, 2012 near to Jharia, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

A man rides a horse through a bonfire on January 16, 2012 in the small village of San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain. In honor of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, horses are riden through the bonfires on the night before the official day of honoring animals in Spain. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Filipino typhoon survivor children, who escaped after their village was attacked by allegedly armed men, wait for social workers in the super typhoon devastated city of Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, 13 November 2013. Aid workers and relief supplies were being poured into eastern provinces hit by Typhoon Haiyan, which aid agencies and officials estimated has left thousands dead and staggering destruction in its wake. The official death toll in the Philippines from one of the world’s strongest typhoons rose to 1,833, the national disaster relief agency said with many towns still unaccounted for. (Photo by Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA)

In this handout photo provided by Warner Brothers Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, Tom Cruise plays Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cage, a soldier who replays his last day while trying to fight aliens, in director Doug Liman's “All You Need Is Kill”. The film is set to premiere on March 14, 2014. (Photo by David James/Warner Brothers Pictures)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

A Nepalese devotee prepares for a religious mask performance during the Seekaali Festival in Khokna village, near Kathmandu, Nepal, 07 October 2016. During the 300-year-old Seekali festival, elderly ethnic Newari devotees wear masks of 14 various goddesses including Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, Lord Laxmi, Lord Brahma and Lord Bishnu. The Khokna people celebrate the Seekaali festival as an alternative of the Dashain festival which is biggest festival of Nepalese Hindus that celebrates the victory of the gods over demons. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

Kurdish pesh merga troops fire at Islamic State positions as they move toward the Iraqi town of Badana Pichwk on Monday morning, October 17, 2016. Kurdish forces began Monday advancing on a string of villages east of Mosul, the start of a long-awaited campaign to reclaim Iraq's second-largest city from the Islamic State, which seized it more than two years ago, officials said. (Photo by Bryan Denton/The New York Times)