diff --git a/services/horizon/CHANGELOG.md b/services/horizon/CHANGELOG.md
index 8c7df9552c..4283156ecc 100644
--- a/services/horizon/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/services/horizon/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ file. This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 * Fix bug in horizon reap system (used by `horizon db reap` command and when horizon is configured with `--history-retention-count`) which could lead to partial deletions. ([3754](https://github.com/stellar/go/pull/3754))
 * Log debug messages from captive core at the appropriate log level. ([3746](https://github.com/stellar/go/pull/3746))
 * Add a feature flag `--captive-core-reuse-storage-path`/`CAPTIVE_CORE_REUSE_STORAGE_PATH` that will reuse Captive Core's storage path for bucket files when applicable for better performance. ([3750](https://github.com/stellar/go/pull/3750))
+* Limit reap to 100k ledgers/second, to prevent excess CPU usage ([3823](https://github.com/stellar/go/pull/3823)).
 
 ## v2.6.1
 
diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/reap/system.go b/services/horizon/internal/reap/system.go
index 915aa5dee8..02a10945a2 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/reap/system.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/reap/system.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ func (r *System) DeleteUnretainedHistory(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	err := r.clearBefore(ctx, targetElder)
+	err := r.clearBefore(ctx, latest.HistoryElder, targetElder)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -70,28 +70,48 @@ func (r *System) runOnce(ctx context.Context) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (r *System) clearBefore(ctx context.Context, seq int32) error {
-	log.WithField("new_elder", seq).Info("reaper: clearing")
+// Work backwards in 100k ledger blocks to prevent using all the CPU.
+//
+// This runs every hour, so we need to make sure it doesn't
+// run for longer than an hour.
+//
+// Current ledger at 2021-08-12 is 36,827,497, so 100k means 368 batches. At 1
+// batch/second, that seems like a reasonable balance between running well
+// under an hour, and slowing it down enough to leave some CPU for other
+// processes.
+var batchSize = int32(100_000)
+var sleep = 1 * time.Second
+
+func (r *System) clearBefore(ctx context.Context, startSeq, endSeq int32) error {
+	for batchEndSeq := endSeq - 1; batchEndSeq >= startSeq; batchEndSeq -= batchSize {
+		batchStartSeq := batchEndSeq - batchSize
+		if batchStartSeq < startSeq {
+			batchStartSeq = startSeq
+		}
+		log.WithField("start_ledger", batchStartSeq).WithField("end_ledger", batchEndSeq).Info("reaper: clearing")
 
-	start, end, err := toid.LedgerRangeInclusive(1, seq-1)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
+		batchStart, batchEnd, err := toid.LedgerRangeInclusive(batchStartSeq, batchEndSeq)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
-	err = r.HistoryQ.Begin()
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in begin")
-	}
-	defer r.HistoryQ.Rollback()
+		err = r.HistoryQ.Begin()
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in begin")
+		}
+		defer r.HistoryQ.Rollback()
 
-	err = r.HistoryQ.DeleteRangeAll(ctx, start, end)
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in DeleteRangeAll")
-	}
+		err = r.HistoryQ.DeleteRangeAll(ctx, batchStart, batchEnd)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in DeleteRangeAll")
+		}
 
-	err = r.HistoryQ.Commit()
-	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in commit")
+		err = r.HistoryQ.Commit()
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "Error in commit")
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(sleep)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/services/horizon/internal/reap/system_test.go b/services/horizon/internal/reap/system_test.go
index 695a5ea3dc..7d5d5a70b2 100644
--- a/services/horizon/internal/reap/system_test.go
+++ b/services/horizon/internal/reap/system_test.go
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ func TestDeleteUnretainedHistory(t *testing.T) {
 
 	sys := New(0, db, ledgerState)
 
+	// Disable sleeps for this.
+	sleep = 0
+
 	var (
 		prev int
 		cur  int