Glue Mule and the Happy Chair

I finally got to work on the 'Happy Chair'. Well, what exactly is a Happy Chair?

Here is one that I started quite a few years ago...

Well a Happy Chair is a chair that I take mess around with until I have something bright and chipper.
I've given most of my chairs away as gifts but I think I am keeping this one.

They normally take quite a long time to do. So I decided to try and different method.

First I primed it after sanding the old crusty varnish off from it.

The seat is still okay enough to keep so I covered that with plastic bags.
Apparently recovering the seat with cloth later won't be too hard.

I place it on a stump in the yard and gathered some spray paints.

The first coating was purple and I started at the top of the legs.

I then proceeded to take the red and blue and just have some fun.

I touched things up and then set the chair out to finish drying in the sun and the wind.

I'll work on the details with my craft acrylic paints later and then seal the whole thing.

All that fun with color for only about $9 in spray paint.
My husband watched me and thought I was a bit nuts. However, this old chair had been hanging in the shed for as long as I've lived here and I think at one time Rich had purchased them at auction with the intention of refinishing them and selling them.
This one is just for fun. It will probably be a favorite for the kids when they visit. I know I'll grab it to sit on the porch or eat at the table often. How can you not smile when sitting on such a brightly colored chair?

I took my rope halter and lead rope and went out to the Merry Meadow and started to gather up mules. Siera was the first one to come, so I grabbed her and took her out of the Meadow for grooming and hoof picking. She enjoyed her time and reluctantly went back into the meadow after taking a munch of grass in the yard.

She needs her haircut too for the summer, but Rich wasn't quite up to helping me.
Next I got Sunshine and took care of her. She was going to run off and evade me when I came with the halter but in the end she stood quietly while I 'captured' her.
Sundance was too easy to catch. As we left the Meadow she snorted and looked a bit wild eyed. She can be a bit herd sour and hates leaving Sunshine, her half sister.

I tied her to the Hickory Tree and proceeded to work with her. She had never gotten the attention she deserved before so I've decided to take care of that. She is my mare's second mule foal and the last one we have raised on the place. Rich was always going to start her under saddle and now that I have more time [I think], she will start her schooling.

Sundance thought the fly spray was a bit of a monster. It is my own home brew and works well for the time I am grooming them. She danced around the tree, and then settled down. I groomed her and then went to picking her hooves. She'd done well the last time I had her out, but occasionally she gives our farrier a bit of grief. I wanted to cure that.
I wanted to make this a daily thing.

On cue, she gave me a hoof shake with her left hind. I held it until she stopped and then slowly put it down. I repeated picking up all of her feet again until she started to anticipate what I wanted. In between holding her feet and rubbing her, she got the idea that this was a game.
I finished with her and walked slowly with her back to the Meadow. I expected that she would be in a rush to get back with Fred, Siera, and her sister. However I was surprised.
I let her go and stood to the side.
She moved over to stand next to me.

I rubbed her forehead and stepped away. She stepped over and stood quietly. I moved again. She moved again.
I was pleased. Rich had always handled her before as he had claimed Sundance as his mule. She was showing me some rather pleasant attributes. She potentially was like Badger and Siera. A Glue Mule.
Some think that a Glue Mule is not a good thing to have.

However when riding out in the woods and picking berries or hunting for photos, it is a great thing to have. A Glue Mule is more interested in staying with you than running off towards home.

Her education will be slow and not hurried as will 15's. I'm looking forward to time with both of them in the round pen and first rides.

Got to love a Glue Mule!

I know, slightly blurry shot. But it was getting dark and...well. There she is, the red headed beauty.
Sundance.