The adjective ἱπποβάμονα ('horse-riding') is a hapax legomenon in this specific attributive position modifying ῥήμαθ' ('words' or 'speeches'), creating a strikingly incongruous metaphor. While ἱπποβάμων appears elsewhere in Greek literature (e.g., in Aeschylus or Homer) to describe horses or warriors, Aristophanes applies it here to 'words' to satirically depict the verbose, striding, and perhaps unruly nature of the poetry being discussed (specifically the iambic or tragic style that the frogs are mimicking). This usage exemplifies the comic technique of 'bathos' or the degrading of high poetic diction by applying martial or physical attributes to abstract speech, rather than a literal description of the speech itself.