Baragali found that horses try to get humans’ attention by keeping their primary focus and one ear towards an object—an apple or carrot, for example—while movin the other ear towards the person. | Photo: iStock

“Horses are fully capable of dividing their attention, and we see that in the way they use their ears, which shows their focus,” said Paolo Baragli, DVM, PhD, researcher in the University of Pisa Department of Veterinary Sciences.

“They have a wide lateral visual field and ears that are able to move more than 180 degrees around,” he said. “So they can maintain their focus on the relevant stimulus (like a bucket of food) and at the same time move their ears, alternating from food to human, probably if they’re hoping to get that human’s assistance.”

In other words, horses can, figuratively, “keep one eye on the apple and one eye on us”—and that divided attention is clear in the way they turn their ears in different directions