buckjumping

Etymology

From buck + jumping.

Why this word is great

BUCKJUMPING — [Noun] The violent, convulsive motion of a horse attempting to dislodge its rider by arching its back and kicking out with its hind legs, or the rodeo event where riders endure such motion for a timed score. From *buck* (to leap or rear suddenly) + *jumping* (the act of leaping). Unlike *bronc riding* (a controlled spectacle with trained horses) or *rearing* (a vertical rise, all threat and no kick), buckjumping is horizontal fury—a rebellion translated into muscle. It is the explosive twist of a mustang’s spine under an unwanted saddle, the airborne clatter of boots losing their stirrups, the dust-choked arena where man and beast enact their ancient contest of wills. Gravity always wins, but not before the body remembers how to fly.

noun

  1. The action (of a horse) of aggressively attempting to buck a rider.“But, after a little preliminary buckjumping, Pyrrhus falsified his keeper′s prediction by behaving well and obediently.”
  2. A rodeo event in which the rider attempts to stay in the saddle of a bucking horse for a set period.“The well-known Australian horse-play, called buckjumping, — the like of which I do not remember seeing in any other part of the world, — is not only very disagreeable but extremely dangerous even to the good horseman.”