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.

Chahad, 16, gets groomed at a beauty Salon in Kalak before her wedding party, Iraq February 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

Children carry firewood on their heads and walk homewards on the outskirts of Rae Bareli, India, Thursday, December 17, 2020. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine on April 13, 2023. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Participants clear the last jump at the Soap Box Derby in Bandung, Indonesia on December 15, 2024. Over 120 entries were received to compete. Entries were voted by judges for performance, overall look and time. Fans voted for their favorite soap box team. (Photo by Algi Febri Sugita/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

This Monday, September 15, 2014 photo shows glazed bricks displayed at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. The Islamic State militants seek to purge society of all influences that don't conform with their strict, puritanical version of Islam. That means destroying not only relics seen as pagan but also Muslim sites they see as contradicting their ideology, particularly Sunni Muslim shrines they see as idolatrous as well as mosques used by Shiites, a branch of Islam they consider heretical. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

Ultra Orthodox Jews look at the body of an alleged Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem Saturday, December 26, 2015. According to a police spokeswoman, policemen approached a man who drew their suspicions just outside the Old City for following a pair of Jewish worshippers. Then he pulled out a knife and tried to stab one of them, officers opened fire and killed the assailant. (Photo by Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo)

An Anti-Balaka fighter, member of a militia opposed to the Seleka rebel group, puts a knife to his throat showing what he would do to any Seleka, on the outskirts of the Boy-Rabe neighborhood in Bangui on December 14, 2013. France raised alarm on December 13 over worsening violence in the Central African Republic, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged warring Christians and Muslims to stop the bloodshed that has left more than 600 dead in the past week. (Photo by Ivan Lieman/AFP Photo)