perform a capriole, of horses in dressage
a crowning achievement of the Haute Ecole, which few horses have the special strength and courage to achieve
Capriole is the most difficult figure of the high school. With the enormous push-off by the hind legs the body is launched up-slant as by the ballotade and just before the body reaches the horizontal the horse shoots out his hind legs (kicks out) backward (downward slant). The most able horses can repeat the capriole several times. This highest caliber of collection (in an unusual closing of angles in the hocks and the hip joints) and the immense/complete release of power can reach only some of the horses trained in the high school. The error in this jump is, when the horse kicks out in or past the horizontal position of his back by which he will land first on his front legs.
One of the Airs Above the Ground in which the horse leaps with all four legs and strikes out with the hind legs in mid-leap.