Word.ws English Dictionary

cold-back

cold-back noun: a syndrome in which a horse refuses to accept anything on its back (often a symptom of chronic lower back soreness).

Noun

cold-back (countable and uncountable, plural cold-backs)

  1. A syndrome in which a horse refuses to accept anything on its back (often a symptom of chronic lower back soreness)
    • It is difficult to compare the human counterpart of what Jeffcott describes as another 'well known' problem in horses, namely, "cold-back".1980, R Grahame, Low Back Pain - Volume 2, page 16
    • Such maladies as osteoarthritis of various joints (spavin in the hocks, ringbone in the pasterns, osselets in the fetlocks, navicular disease in the heels of the forefeet) are very common, as is chronic lower back soreness (coldback) in the lumbar, sacral, and thoracic regions.1992, Barbara T. Engel, Margaret L. Galloway, Therapeutic Riding Programs
  2. A horse with cold-back.
    • "Guess he's a cold-back," Slim observed when Blackie had calmed down somewhat.1996, Ian Wilson, Sally Wilson, Gold Rush: North to Alaska and the Klondike, page 33
    • The stud colt had taken to halter and bit easily enough, but he was a coldback. He had shied at the blanket and rejected the weighted feed sacks Adam had hung over his back before introducing the saddle.2009, David Karcher, Winter Kill, page 17

Adjective

cold-back (not comparable)

  1. Refusing to bear weight on its back; bucking and shying when anything is put on the back.
    • A cold-back bronc raises his head up high as a single cowboy walks toward him to mount in the cold morning air.1995, James P. McCall, The Stallion: A Breeding Guide for Owners and Handlers, page 3
    • You go back to the corral and saddle that cold-back sumbitch and put on your chaps and spurs.2009, John Duncklee, Zemo, page 49

Forms of cold-back

pluralcold-backs
alternative formcoldback
alternative formcold back

Questions about cold-back

What does cold-back mean?
Cold-back means a syndrome in which a horse refuses to accept anything on its back (often a symptom of chronic lower back soreness).
What part of speech is cold-back?
Cold-back can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of cold-back?
The plural of cold-back is cold-backs.

Words near cold-back in the dictionary

  1. cold worked
  2. cold working
  3. cold works
  4. cold-aridiphilous
  5. cold-avoidant
  6. cold-back
  7. cold-backs
  8. cold-blooded
  9. cold-bloodedly
  10. cold-bloodedness
  11. cold-brew coffee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cold-back (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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