pouring

23:33 Mar 21, 2012 

Of course! It hadn't occurred to me that Americans pronounce "pouring" properly :) But in British English it sounds exactly like "pawing", and I'm pretty sure Australians say it the same way. It would be nice to get an opinion from an Australian.

23:16 Mar 21, 2012 

Charles, the "pouring the ground" examples you found are quite convincing. "Pouring" and "pawing" are not homophones for me, so the connection was not obvious. "Pouring with sweat" makes absolutely no sense in this context (I'm a biologist by training, have had horses for 30 years, and have been translating in the field of farriery for about 10 years, so I do understand the topic). The article's not very literary, but otherwise the spelling is ok. I'll just wait for someone in Australia to confirm the only thing that makes sense. (And pawing, with or without shoes, is not good for the hooves and limbs.)

10:52 Mar 21, 2012 

Here's another: "Just because a horse is pouring at the ground doesn't always mean they are bored or annoyed for being tied up,,check for heat in the legs."
http://www.horseproblems.com.au/Archives/g.htm

10:50 Mar 21, 2012 

Another possibility, which would not involve a spelling mistake, is that it could mean "pouring with sweat". But I think "pawing the ground" is much more likely in this context because it's concerned with the horse's feet. Pawing is one of the prime causes of quarter cracks:

"Now big cracks, you have toe cracks and quarter cracks. They can be caused by pawing, improper hoof balance, too much flare or a rock."
http://blog.farrierfletcher.com/2011/07/04/hoof-cracks.aspx

I can't rule out some other special Aussie meaning, and maybe somebody will come up with one, but I haven't found one.

As I said in my answer, I don't think Aussies are particularly bad at spelling, but many English speakers have trouble spelling homophones. I've given some Aussie examples in my answer.

10:50 Mar 21, 2012 

we'll wait and see what some of our Aussie colleagues think, although it's starting to be pretty late in the day for them.

10:17 Mar 21, 2012 

I used upper case letters to focus absent-minded readers. Pawing is a possibility. Would an Aussie write "pouring" for "pawing"? But might "pouring" or "poring" be some sort of slang term in Australia for some other behaviour? That is my question!

10:08 Mar 21, 2012 

What's the English like in the rest of your document? Could you this be a mistake for "Pawing"? (see for example http://en.allexperts.com/q/Horses-Behavior-Issues-3329/Pouri...
P.S. Are capital letters yours, or in the original document?