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The Spanish Riding School of Vienna

Spanish
Riding School

Levade

Courbette

Capriole

Classical High School Movements
Airs Above the Ground
by John D'Addamio

What are the airs above the ground? The Spanish Riding School currently shows three airs above the ground: Levade, Courbette, and Capriole. In the past, the School did other airs above the ground such as the pesade, croupade and the ballotade.

Levade

The levade is introduced from piaffe on the spot. The horse lifts his forehand off the ground with lowered hocks so that his body makes about a 30 degree angle with the ground. The horse holds this position as long as he can. The pesade was the same sort of movement but the horse raised his body to an angle of approximately 45 degrees. As Podhajsky wrote, "If the horse lifts himself higher from the ground at an angle of more than 45 degrees and does not bend his legs, he does not perform any classical movement but simply rears up."

Capriole

The other airs above the ground are actually jumps. Again, I quote Podhajsky,"In the capriole, the horse jumps off the ground and kicks out with his hind legs at the moment his body is horizontal to the ground." Podhajsky goes on to say that this jump requires "much power and courage." Podhajsky says that the croupade is a jump "in which the horse jumps off the ground in a position similar to the pesade and tucks his legs underneath his body." Since the body is not horizontal to the ground, Podhajsky says that it can be used as preparation for either the capriole or courbette. Podhajsky also says that, in the ballotade, the horse jumps higher than in the croupade and becomes horizontal to the ground. The horse tucks his legs under his body but does not kick out with the hind legs. Apparently, the pesade, croupade, and ballotade are no longer performed in public but are used as stages of training for other jumps. Of course, one may occasionally see a ballotade in performance when a capriole was intended. For example, I made a note of this occurring in a 1992 performance. Podhajsky says that this happens when the horse feels uncertain in the air and "is no reason for punishment."

Corbette

Apparently, the name courbette was applied to a different jump in the past. But, today, the courbette of the Spanish Riding School begins in a pesade position. The horse jumps up into the air maintaining his angle to the ground. When he lands, he returns to the pesade position. In the courbette at the Spanish Riding School, the horse jumps several times with his forefeet never touching the ground. In his book celebrating the 400 year anniversary of the School, "The Spanish Riding School", Director Hans Handler wrote that there have been stallions at the School who made more than 10 jumps with their forefeet not touching the ground "but they are rare; perhaps one such talented horse is born every ten years." He may have been optimistic as to the frequency of such horses. I have not seen more than five jumps in a row at the School in nearly three decades of watching their performances.

I recall seeing one video with the Spanish courbetter making 15 or more consecutive courbette jumps! The Andalusian stallion in our World Equestrian Games Opening Ceremony video made more than 15 consecutive courbette jumps.

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