or Bucker, subs. phr. (American and colonial).—A horse given TO BUCK (q.v.). Also BUCK-JUMP, subs. and verb.
1853. H. BERKELEY JONES, Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853 [Footnote], 143. A ‘BUCKER’ is a vicious horse, to be found only in Australia.
1855. W. HOWITT, Two Years in Victoria, i., 43. At length it shook off all its holders, and made one of those extraordinary vaults that they call BUCK-JUMPING.
1859. REV. J. D. MEREWEATHER, Diary of a Working Clergyman in Australia and Tasmania, kept during the years 1850–1853, 177. I believe that an inveterate BUCK-JUMPER can be cured by slinging up one of the four legs, and lunging him about severely in heavy ground on the three legs. The action they must needs make use of on such an occasion somewhat resembles the action of bucking; and after some severe trials of that sort, they take a dislike to the whole style of thing. An Irishman on the Murrumbidgee is very clever at this schooling. It is called here ‘turning a horse inside out.’
1864. G. A. LAWRENCE, Guy Livingstone, ix. The instant the chestnut was mounted, he reared, and indulged in two or three ‘BUCK-JUMPS’ that would have made a weaker man tremble for his backbone.
1884. Harper’s Magazine, July, 301, 1. If we should … select a ‘BUCKER,’ the probabilities are that we will come to grief.
1885. FORMAN (DAKOTA), item 26, May 6, 3. The majority of the horses there [in Australia] are vicious and given to the trick of BUCK-JUMPING. [It may be worth while to add that this is not strictly accurate.]. 1893. Ibid., 187. ‘Were you ever on a BUCK-JUMPER.’ I was asked by a friend, shortly after my return from Australia.
1893. HADDON CHAMBERS, Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life, 64. No BUCK-JUMPER could shake him off.
