How To Do A Caballerial

By now you have seen riders throwing big corked tricks off knuckles made famous by Norwegian nutter, Marcus Kleveland. How do you even begin to learn those tricks? Right here with our how to do a Caballerial tutorial.

To keep progressing your buttering skills and trying even more knuckle tricks, check out our Advanced Buttering series.

(Narrating/Riding: Nev Lapwood)

The Caballerial is a skateboarding trick and technically speaking, is a Fakie 360 Ollie made famous by pro skater Steve Caballero. This trick will not only look insane, but also help you to progress to those gnarly corked spins off the knuckle.

Trick Tip: In snowboarding, people refer to a Switch Frontside 180 as a Cab 1, Switch Frontside 360 as a Cab 3 etc. This is actually incorrect naming. A Switch Front 3 and Cab 3 are different tricks. It's only a Caballerial if you pop from your nose while riding switch.

Performing the Trick

The Caballerial is a fun stylish buttering and flat land trick. You can do it anywhere, but it works especially well off rollers and cat tracks. It’s safe to learn and is all about how stylish you can make it look. There are 5 key skills you need in order to perform the trick.

1. Switch Frontside 360s
2. Fakie Ollie
3. Half-cab
4. Caballerial
5. Style

1) Switch Frontside 360

In order to pull off the Caballerial, you need to have Switch Frontside 360's on lock, not only off park jumps but off the flat as well. While riding switch, initiate a switch front 3 with your heel edge and a bit of a wind up of your upper body. Make sure you have a strong switch ollie as it will add a tonne of pop to the trick.

The initiation of the movement.

2) Fakie Ollie

A Fakie Ollie is the same motions as an ollie, although you will be riding in a switch stance so you will pop from your switch nose. Start with a few on the flat to get the feeling and remember to look in your switch riding direction. Put a little weight on your back foot, shift your board through to the switch nose, pop the Fakie Ollie and suck your knees up evenly towards your chest before landing.

Practice your Fakie Ollie. It is an essential part to this trick.

3) Half Cab

The most important stepping stone trick is the Half Cab. As the name suggests, it is half a Caballerial. It is very similar to a Switch Frontside 180, but you are popping fakie from the nose of your board.

1. Start by doing the movement with your board off then, once you have that dialled, move to a nice flat run.
2. Use your heel edge to initiate the rotation and remember to put a little weight on your back foot as you approach.
3. Your body should be initiating the spin before the ollie so be sure to keep your weight over top of your board for balance.

Getting a strong pop on your half cabs are very is very important and essential for spinning the full Caballerial.

Dialling in that Half Cab.

4) Caballerial

Once you have the half cans dialed, your ready for the real trick. Start on the flat's to feel the movement as the Caballerial requires twice the rotation of the half cab. Windup slightly, 360, blind landing, look into the new direction of travel after landing. Simple right? The first 180 happens easily while the second 180 uses a counter rotated movement in the air where your upper body and lower body rotate against each other to complete the 360. If you find you can only spin a 270 and sliding the rest, that's fine, it's all part of the learning process.

The Caballerial in all its buttery glory.

5) Style

Once you learn the Caballerial, you can take it to other features and start to add your own unique style. The best place to do them is off any kind of roll but the knuckle of a park jump is perfect.

The higher you go, the better this trick looks. You can also try stalling your rotation by pausing your spin mid air. This is another way of adding extra style, but can only be done with more speed and height.

There it is, the Caballerial. A super stylish buttering trick that will not only take your riding to the next level but will also give you the necessary skills to try even more advanced knuckle tricks.

Alex McCann
Snowboard Addiction
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