caracole
/ˈkarəkəʊl
/noun
A half turn to the right or left by a horse.By 1700 the caracole, initially so fashionable, was obsolete and the cavalryman's pistol was reserved for the mêlée or as just another item in the horse soldier's armoury....
- The most common tactic used was the caracole - a combined cavalry charge assisted by firearms.
verb [no object, with adverbial of direction]
(Of a horse) perform a caracole: he danced sideways and then caracoled round the corner of the stables...
- The thews in his hindquarters strained and bulged as the knight caracoled on his rear legs.
- But she and the others walked past the German parade ground, where, in the war, the horses had caracoled every day, and turned onto Lange Reihe.
- The young men on horseback caracoled about the carriages, as they did at Longchamps, for Longchamps was already in existence and even very brilliant.
Origin
Early 17th century: from French caracole, caracol 'snail's shell, spiral'.