We're All Ears: Sculpting The Equine Ear

Introduction

I admit, I’m a complete and total ear geek. It’s one of my most favorite parts of the horse to sculpt! They absolutely delight and fascinate me to no end so sculpting them is definitely a highlight of any sculpture for me. I so look forward to it every time. Why? Well, they lend so much appeal, expression, and moment to a piece, don’t they? Forward ears? Instant charm! Twitchy ears? Instant moment! Rotated back ears? Instant mood. Laid back ears? Instant drama! Wobbly ears? Instant fun! Droopy ears? Instant mellow. Love it! What’s more, they're such a technical challenge to sculpt with their complex structure and muscular system. The curves of the flute, the curious formations at the bottom “v,” their movements and tensions that express so much, just so much to factor in. And, of course, equine ears are so elegant and beautiful, even mule ears, donkey ears, and zebra ears are a peculiar brand of lovely. Everything about equine ears, I just love them! So yeah, when I say "I’m all ears,” I mean it!

But by golly—yes—are they a challenge to sculpt accurately or what?! Being so, many artists just sorta gloss over them, giving them a cursory treatment, which is completely understandable. They are very fiddly to get right. Unfortunately, too, finding good quality reference photos of their actual structure without any obscuring hair can be really difficult. See, to really tease out their detailed anatomy, the tricky bits of those fleshy structures, that ear has to be closely clipped and that sort of closeup shot is hard to come by if you don’t snap them yourself at a show. Photographers just don’t take close up images of clipped ears! Indeed, there are many more close ups of fuzzy ears than of clipped ones so many artists are simply sculpting blind. In an effort to fill a knowledge gap then, this discussion will dive into equine ear structure and some ideas on how to sculpt it. Hopefully then, the marvelousness of the equine ear will become more obvious, allowing you to better understand it and so better sculpt it, clipped or fuzzy. So let’s dive in!…

Basic Biology

The equine ear consists of three components: The outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear includes the pinna (plural: pinnae), the ear-shaped cartilage you see plus the ear canal. This cartilage gives the ear its peculiar shape and is covered in skin, hair, veins, and the ear muscles at the base or bulb. It’s seated into the skull in its special “cup” created by the parietal, occipital, and temporal bones of the skull, behind the ears and jaw, between the back of the zygomatic arch and the mastoid process of the temporal bone, behind which the paracondylar process of the temporal bone projects. The temporal bone contains the ear canal, the external auditory meatus, located about level with the condyle of the jaw.

The pinna is rolled into a concha, rounder and more curvaceous on the medial aspect and flatter and more sweeping on the lateral aspect. Each rim of the pinna is called the helix while the tip is called the apex, and the bottom “v” is referred to as the pre-tragic notch. On the medial helix at the bottom by this pre-tragic notch are the medial and lateral crus folds, important details of the ear often overlooked by artists. On the lateral helix on the other side of the notch is the inter-tragic notch, another important detail often overlooked by artists. However, these formations on either helix beside the bottom “v” can vary a wee bit between individuals so use the same reference photo for both ears so they match as a pair. The pinna also often has delicate ridges on its internal aspect which can be clearly seen when the ear is shaved out otherwise they’re hidden under ear fuzz.

The middle ear includes the ear drum, the oval window, and the eustachian tube. Then the inner ear entails the cochlea (for hearing) and the vestibular system (for balance). Both the middle and inner ear are beyond the scope of this discussion. 

Trivia: Did you know that the three small bones within the horse’s ear—the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes) bones—are the smallest in his body, collectively referred to as the auditory ossicles or just as the ossicles.

Utilizing about ten to sixteen muscles (depending on your reference), a horse can independently rotate each ear about 180˚, even able to relax them sideways or draw them up in a more upright position when fired up. (In comparison, people only have three muscles moving their ears while cats have thirty-two.) Generally speaking, the calmer the horse, the more sideways and low the ears hang in relaxation whereas the more pumped up the horse, the more upright and “tighter held” are the ears. A great many nerves lay at the base of the ear which may be why horses are so sensitive to having their ears touched. It’s also a bad idea to restrain a horse with an ear twitch or ear hold as this can’t only be destructive to the ear structures and surrounding muscles and nerves, but also because the ear is attached to the delicate petrosal part of the temporal bone (the petrosal part contains the balance and hearing mechanisms) and an ear hold can damage this bone or its connection to the skull. What’s more, this petrosal portion articulates with the hyoid apparatus in horses via the stylohyoid bone meaning that ear holds can also damage the hyoid apparatus, compromising the horse’s ability to swallow. In short, equine ears are very delicate, complex structures that always demand careful handling. Which also means when a horse is being fussy with ear handling, they aren't being unreasonable, they're practicing self-protection.

The equine ear is naturally filled with protective fuzzy hair that manifests in different ways between individuals so use a good reference photo, especially of the breed you’re depicting. Also keep in mind that a new regulation prohibits the shaving of ears so be aware of that as well. However, when the ear is closely clipped we can clearly see all the pinnae structures within the flute, the bottom “v” or pre-tragic notch, and the medial and lateral crus of the medial helix. (Tip: Going to Arabian, Morgan, stockhorse, and Saddlebred shows often gleans handy close-ups of shaved ears for structure shots.)

As for function, horses use their ears for three basic things. The first is balance. The vestibular system, the organ of balance, is located within the inner ear. This inner ear is a complicated maze of channels, set at different angles, that are fluid-filled and lined with countless sensory cells that signal both the auditory nerve (involved with hearing) and the vestibular nerve (involved with balance). This fluid acts like a level, telling the brain how the body is oriented whether standing or moving.

The second is hearing. Horses hear more frequencies than we do, especially in the higher and lower frequencies in the range of 55 to 33,500Hz (with their best sensitivity at about 1,000-16,000Hz) whereas people hear in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. For context, that means a horse may be able to hear the ultrasonic shriek of a bat which is why they’re more reactive to sound than we are. It’s also believed that horses can hear sounds up to 2.5 miles (4km) away, however, studies on equine hearing are ongoing so that’s just a rough estimate. In particular, horses are especially sensitive to the high-pitched squeaks, creaks, or cracks that could be caused by a creeping predator. For instance, a horse’s hearing ability up to 33,500 hertz is a lot more than a human. It’s no wonder then why they get so uppity in wind — they’re hearing a lot of sounds they can't easily identify, making them highly reactive. Horse’s even have the Pryer Reflex wherein sound automatically triggers the horse’s ear to prick towards it. It also means we don’t have to shout at horses for them to hear us as a low-voiced command is clear to them all the same. But overall, in essence, the horse’s hearing isn’t as developed as their sight, so what the ears do is to help direct their gaze, assisting the eyes in predator detection.

Then third, horses use their ears for communication. Horses are very expressive in their body language and the ears play a central part by communicating their focus or mood with their ear position and tension. For instance, ears pricked forward indicates a happy, curious horse interested in what is happening in front of them whereas ears laid back flat against the neck is a sign of high aggression and anger. In contrast, ears pricked backwards demonstrate interest in what’s happening behind them while droopy ears indicate a relaxed or sleepy horse then ears turned back sharply, but not laid on the neck can indicate a snarky, pugnacious, frightened or alarmed horse. Similarly, ears held back and tightly can indicate pain or stress. When not positioned, ears rotate actively, homing in on sounds happening around the horse, tending to always be in motion. 

Trivia: Did you know that the guttural pouch, unique to horses, is a diverticulum off the eustachian tube on each side of the head. It’s believed that the guttural pouches serve as an eddy space for high speed incoming and outgoing air during inhalation and exhalation when galloping to keep from creating a vacuum inside the head. How could this happen? Well, the speed air flow through the nasal passages when the horse is really galloping has been clocked at about 400mph. That's faster than an F5 tornado! So if this eddying pouch didn't exist, the resultant vacuum wouldn't only be devastating for the head but would also suck the eardrum into the nasal passages. So one of the primary functions of the pouches is to equalize pressure on both sides of the ear drum, particularly when galloping.

Placement Of The Ear

The location of the ear is an anatomical feature, not a conformational one. This means an error in placing the ear is a technical misstep, an error in realism, not one of aesthetics. So how do we know if we’ve placed our ear correctly? Well, a good place to start is knowing pretty well the cranium of the horse. Have a solid grasp of that, and you’re well on your way with ear placement. 

Now a handy way to check our work is the Ear-Eye-Nostril Alignment (EENA) which essentially places the ear for us. Now we do have to make allowances for a convex (like an Iberian) or concave head (like an Arabian), but basically the EENA often holds true. 

Another way to check our work is to make sure the ear lines up with the back of the jaw, as it should lie just outside of its sweeping curve. It also lies just in front of the wing of the Atlas bone, or the first cervical vertebra. Then from the front, the bottom “v” tends to align with the bulk of the fleshiness at the front of the eye, just in front of the front canthus. However, some horses have a more narrow crown, placing the ears slightly closer together, or a wider crown, placing the ears farther apart. So be sure to look for individual or breed variations in how broadly the ears are spaced on the head in your references and life study.

Sculpting Sequence

This discussion will be from the point of view of sculpting in epoxy clay, but many of the ideas offered can be adapted to oil clay, polymer clay, and ceramic clay. Plus, there are a couple of different ways to sculpt an ear in epoxy: First, shaping the flute in your fingers and popping it onto the head then, second, shaping the ear directly on the head. This discussion will deal with the latter which is my technique. Why? Because epoxy clay doesn't lend itself so well to pre-shaping ears and popping them on...it's too squishy and I work "too wet" with it, making it slump. Plus, you just won't get the accuracy and details you need with that approach with epoxy clay as it's too malleable as compared to oil, ceramic, or polymer clay. So instead, I create an ear armature first, then sculpt over that which you'll see in a moment. Now as for pose, we’ll be sculpting a forward-facing pricked ear but the same technique can apply to all ear positions.

• Make sure your sculpted skull structure has enough bulk on the sides of the crown so your sculpted ears won’t be set too close together or too inset into the skull. If you need more mass, bulk it up and let it cure.
• Identify the placement of the ear on your sculpted head with reference photos and measurements. You can pencil in the “cup” area where the bulb will be, too, to make this easier. Then I like to Dremel in that “cup” into the head to make more surface area for the epoxy to adhere to and to help me place the ear more accurately. Smoosh a small amount of epoxy clay into this area and really adhere it to the surface. This will be like a “glue” for the rest of your ear.
• For a 1:9 scale piece, take a dollop of epoxy clay about the size of a small almond and shape it into a pointed oval then gently squish the wide end into the cup onto your “glue” epoxy layer, leaving the other end upright. The wide bottom end will become the bulb and the freestanding pointed end will become the pinna. Really get that bottom part secure in that cup so you ear is firmly attached.
• Shape the bulb area best you can, making sure the area isn’t too bulky but just more like an armature because that’s what you’re doing—you’re making an ear armature. So as the epoxy stiffens, you can sculpt and pinch the pinna into a rough flute and basic shape. If it slumps, just correct it as the epoxy cures until it’s firm enough to hold its shape.
• Once fully cured, use a Dremel to reduce the bulk to rip it down to an armature, paying special attention to shape, size, and thinness of the rims. Once done and washed off and air dried, you’re ready to sculpt your actual epoxy ear. (Use all PPE, dust management, and manufacturer cautions when using a dremel and bits.)
• Mix up some fresh epoxy and mix in some 91% rubbing alcohol to make the blob gooshier and stickier. Mixing in some rubbing alcohol also increases the cure time which you want when shaping your ear. So keep mixing rubbing alcohol into it until it’s about the consistency of thick cake batter. Then smear this onto your armature with your fingers and sculpting tools then smooth out and generally shape it. Carefully shape and smooth out with your fingers and rubbing alcohol. Get the length right and the breadth and width, too. You're blocking in your ear right now so be as precise as possible with the dimensions. Then use a soft filbert brush (about size 4) and rubbing alcohol to smooth out the borders of the epoxy into the surrounding areas to a fine feather finish. Now let the epoxy rest about 20-30 minutes until it stiffens a wee bit.
• You can start to shape your ear now. I like to start by first defining each helix then the pre-tragic notch (or bottom “v”). Make sure your pinna is straight and the "v" is aligned with the eye properly from the front. Keep scale and anatomy in mind as you work as well. Block in the lateral and media crus of the helix and any wrinkles. Then gently smooth with the brush and rubbing alcohol again and then let that rest another 20-30 minutes.
• Once everything is blocked in, work with the cure time to refine and define, crispify and clean up structures and details until you’re done. Keep resmoothing as needed with the brush and rubbing alcohol.
• Be sure to check and recheck your measurements and placement so you don’t go off-track as you sculpt.
• Now let that cure completely. When it is, further refine, hollow out the ear, and thin out the rims with a Dremel with diamond-tipped bits. In particular, I like to use a teardrop shaped bit for this step. (Again, use all manufacture precautions and PPE when using a dremel tool.)
• Wash it off carefully and let it air dry. Then squish a teeny blob of epoxy clay inside the pinna to add in the ear ridges and smooth to a feather finish with the brush and rubbing alcohol and let cure. And then voilá…done!
• Now simply repeat with the other ear which, admittedly, is easier said than done. That whole bilateral symmetry thing…uffdah. But you can do it! Then…whammo…finito!
• If you want to make fuzzy ears, add in the hair now. Sculpt, smooth, and let cure. In this, I recommend sculpting a fully complete ear before adding fuzz so you have that structural integrity there.

Things To Keep In Mind

As we work, it's very easy to go off-track as we get caught up in the sculpting process. So always check your work with calipers and your references. On that note, don't forget certain things like...

• When forward, equine ears curve inwards at the tips, not outward, so remember this when rotating them. So always think of how their tips would orient if they were pricked forwards.
• Ears flutes are thin cartilage so try not to make your ears so thick as to compromise the impression of delicacy. At the same time, however, also consider casting concerns and shipping sturdiness—it’s a delicate balance between all these issues. Even so, the more delicate you can make your ears look, the better. (Tip: A handy trick to make your ears look more delicate is to make the rims appropriately thin regardless of the thickness of the rest of the ear.)
• The medial helix of the equine ear is more rounded and curled inwards whereas the lateral helix is flatter. However, they aren’t razor-thin but are slightly rounded along the edge.
• Seating the ear properly into the skull is really important. Not only is it important for the accuracy of the ear itself, but other head measurements depend on it. So make prior measurements to be as accurate as possible and recheck often as you work against your references.
• Proportion is everything with ears, make them too small or too big and they won’t look right. A guiding baseline measurement for the typical horse ear is about equal the distance from the bottom “v” of the ear to the front canthus of the eye, give or take for breed, age, gender, or individual variation. For instance, ear proportion can be gender-linked. As such, stallions tends to have smaller ears whereas mares tend to have big ol’ mare ears. Ear size can be age related as well as foals often have ears “they have to grow into.” Likewise, exotics have their own sizes (and shapes) that need careful attention. So bear all that in mind when sculpting them and use good reference photos.
• Nailing the correct curves of the flute is really important, but notice that those curves change as the ear is rotated by the cartilage being morphed as the ear moves. For example, each helix can be shaped a little differently when the ear is pricked forwards as when it’s rotated back and especially when it’s laid back. That means careful field study and lots of quality reference photos are in order, those specific to the ear position you wish to recreate. So pay close attention to how shape and position are related.
• There’s a huge degree of individual variation with ears! Each horse really does sport their own set of ears, which is so fun, so don’t be afraid to explore that variety in your body of work.
• Different breeds often have different ear characteristics, sometimes as a point of breed type. For example, there’s the the Marwari or Kathiawari with their curly ears, but there’s also the Arabian and their curvaceous, tipped ears, the Teke with their spade-like ears, and the Saddlebred with their long, elegant ears. Drafters often have substantial “plainer” ears whereas stockhorses or Thoroughbreds can have dainty, pricked ears. And pony ears are their own thing in many ways, being so small and cuter. In fact, tiny ears can be a point of breed type with many pony breeds to pay attention to that in particular. Overall then, be mindful of breed distinctions when designing your ears.
• The ears on exotics like mules, donkeys, zebras, and hemonids are their own thing so be sure to find as many references photos as possible to work from. The different zebra species can even have their own specific kinds of ears as can donkeys so be aware of that, too. Like you can’t put Grevy’s Zebra ears on a Plains Zebra, or Pega Donkey ears on a burro. All that said though, they are still just variations on the basic horse ear so once you understand how to sculpt that, exotic ears make a lot more sense to sculpt.
• Ears often have veins running up along the bulbs up onto the flute so look for those in case you’d like to add those on your sculpture.
• The lower “v” where the two rims meet can shift from an open “v” to a more closed slit depending on ear position, so pay attention to that aspect.
• Note any wrinkling at the base of the ear, especially between the bulb and the crown, as that’s a neat detail to add.
• Notice how the ear muscles distort and shift as the ear is rotated, important features to capture for realism and detail.
• Look for any tension or relaxation in how the ears are held as that speaks to the horse’s mood or temperament.
• Pay attention to the state of the ears, especially on feral horses like injuries, frostbite, notches and the like as they can be important details for realism or narrative. Indeed, Icelandic horses sometimes have owner-identifying notched ears which may be an important detail to add.

Sculpting Tips

As we work, any tidbit that can make our job easier is a boon. Indeed, ears will always present a happy challenge, so here are some pointers you might find helpful...

• Think of the ear as a kinda ball on the bottom with a tube on the top that swivels in its “cup” in the skull at the base. Now granted, that’s really simplified, but it helps to visualize what’s going on when it rotates.
• A dremel tool with a flex-shaft can be your best friend when it comes to epoxy work. Just adhere to all safety protocols such as wearing the proper PPE, managing dust well, and watching those fingers! (Tip: A butcher’s glove is a great thing to wear on your sculpture-holding hand for dremeling.)
• Useful dremel bits to use are the diamond-tipped small ones, particularly the tear-drops, cones, and ball shapes. I also like to use a cone-shaped dremel tungsten cutter to rip down the initial epoxy formation to make the epoxy armature which I can sculpt over in fresh epoxy for the final ear. If I’ve done my job right, I really won’t need those diamond bits too much except to maybe refine certain portions a little bit and to hollow out the ear more.
• Try not to shape the ear too much with dremel bits as their rough finishes can be hard to sand, especially on a delicate little ear. Instead, try to do your final ear in epoxy, fully smoothed and ready to paint because this preserves all those details and doesn’t risk breaking your delicate ear.
• I like to dremel out a hollow or “cup” in the ear area on the head which my initial epoxy ear will seat into. It improves adhesion by increasing the surface area, and this also helps me to place the ear better.
• With a fuzzy ear, fuzz tends to angle inwards to protect the inner ear, but some portions can protrude forwards or outwards, too. Use good reference photos.
• Use your calipers religiously to ensure proper size of both the length and width of the ears. I like to use proportional calipers especially because they offer quick and easy proportional measuring with handy pointed tips.
• Ensure symmetry between ears with calipers. Like measure the ears from the bottom of the “v” to the apex to match them as a pair. Then measure their width and their depth, and make adjustments.
• If using epoxy clays and some polymer clays, 91% rubbing alcohol is a handy solvent for smoothing, used with soft brushes to soften and smooth details and surfaces. Works great! But for oil clays, try Goo Gone or turpenol*. And, of course, for ceramic clays, clean water is proper (just be conservative with the water if using grog-filled clay as it can bring out the grain).

(*Turpenol is a 40/60 ratio of turpenoid and 91% rubbing alcohol. It’s far less aggressive than Goo Gone so it’s great for a final smoothing or if you just want something gentler. Goo Gone is highly aggressive so use it sparingly, like don’t soak your piece with it or you’ll end up with a melted mess especially with something as delicate as an ear.)

Common Mistakes

It's easy for our ears to go haywire, especially as we sculpt and get caught up in it all. But there are some common missteps we can inadvertently make, such as...

• Misplacement of the ear: If the ear is placed too far forwards or too far back on the head. 
• “Perched” ears: Ears that aren’t seated into the “cup” of the skull but sit “perched” on top of the head. They’re often placed to close together as well.
• “Crammed” ears: Ears that are situated too far down on the skull.
• Overly angled ears: When the ears are angled on the head too acutely for the head position.
• Asymmetrical ears: When they don’t match in dimension.
• Crooked ears: When the pinnae aren’t straight.
• Wrongly tipped ears: When the tips of the ears are facing outwards rather than inwards.
• Missing the lateral and medial crus of the helix: Most sculptures are missing this critical detail.
• Misgendered ears: Now granted, there’s always individual variation, but be mindful of gender differences with ear dimensions.

Conclusion

They say “the eyes are the windows of the soul” yet when it comes to horses, their ears are equally revealing, the tokens of their psyches. Absolutely, a horse’s ears speak of their internal landscape quite loudly and being so, add a potent touch to your sculpture that can take it right over the top! 

Ears are also an anatomical feature, not a conformational one, so get them right, and your head will read correctly, but get them wrong…and not so much. As such, ear placement and structure can make or break the accuracy of your sculpted head, so take great care. Ears should never be considered as afterthoughts. They are their own thing, just as important as the eye, nostril, and muzzle. But with some patience, good references, and some practice you, too, can sculpt a wonderful set of ears!

Truly, if you pay attention to the ears with a keen eye and careful touch, you’ll find that the realism of your sculpture improves exponentially plus the narratives you build will become more compelling, and all thanks to two little flutes flicking about on the top of the head. Indeed, without a doubt, beautifully sculpted ears are ear-replaceable as the crowning touch!

The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.

— Jerzy Kosinski

We're All Ears: Sculpting The Equine Ear