Friendly Pony Parties & Barnyard Pals

five stars!
i loved everything about my experience with Terry.
to start with — Terry answered to my email regarding booking a party within a couple of hours. which is almost unexpected now-​days, when you have to send emails, leave messages, text (you name it) for days to get attention from businesses.
then in 15 minutes i got all my questions answered, we signed a contract electronically and i made a payment.
on the day of my party i got everything done exactly as promised — on time, healthy looking animals, nice and friendly staff (thank you, Claudia!). no hassle, quick set up and clean up.
kids were extremely happy with animals, i was glad that my backyard looks even better after the party:-)
will definitely book again and highly recommend to everyone!

Thank you Terry! Today was an amazing experience for many, very well behaved little kids! The pony choice could not have had been any closer to the birthday girls «dream pony» and the petting zoo was nothing but perfect. Ashley was an absolute doll! She had a great attitude and was all smiles the entire event. I could not have been any more pleased with today and the overall pony& zoo rental experience. Your customer service has been a delight and I hope to utilize your services in the near future.
Thank you again Terry.

Terry still owes me a $ 150 refund after almost 2.5 months! I contacted her for 2 ponies for 1.5 hours and she wanted full payment to save the date. I gave her my credit card information and she charged me for a petting zoo that I never asked for! I cought her mistake and when I brought it up, she claimed she got confused with someone else and she would refund the money. Weeks later she still hadn’t.
I didn’t hear back from her and was starting to worry that they wouldn’t show up. I texted her days before the party to touch base and asked for receipts for her services and for the refund. The day of the party, Terry texted me claiming she was going to send me a check with her employee but forgot and would mail me a check on Monday instead. She also emailed me a contract the day of the party– who does that?
10 days later I still hadn’t received anything so I texted her and got no response. I left her a message this week and still no reply. I called today and she did not pick up. I feel like she is avoiding me and doesn’t want to give me my money back!
I was relieved to see the ponies show up, but the lack of communication and all her broken promises of refunding me are SO UNPROFESSIONAL! Save yourself the stress and go with a company that appreciates their customers, and is straightforward in the way they run their business. DON’T give them your credit info or this could happen to you!

I am writing this review based on the communication of Terry and her business. I sent her and email with our party details after a previous company (that I had used in the past) was not getting back to me. Terry called me the same day within a few hours and was prepared to answer my questions. I gave full disclosure about the issue I was having with the other company and said if they did call me back, I would go with them based on having a good experience the first time we used them. Terry was completely understanding on this and said it would be no problem if we chose the other company and that if I did hear back, she would love to come and support at our party.
I did hear back from the previous company and we will be using them this time. I was just so impressed with Terry’s level of professionalism and understanding. I highly recommend working with Friendly Pony Parties and Barnyard Pals!

We opted for 2 ponies and a petting zoo for a large birthday party with kids ranging from age 3 – 9. They arrived on time with all the animals well-​kept. They set-​up promptly and started right on time. The kids had a blast. Highly recommend then for birthday parties especially if you have a wide range of ages of kids – everyone had a blast!

Saw these poor, sad looking ponies at the Treasure Island flea. One poor pony had a «unicorn horn» strapped to his head. Shame on this organization for exploiting animals and shame on the idiots who support them. Animals are not put on this plane to «entertain» idiot people who «want their children to experience animals.» (Memo-​how about the parents take their child to a wildlife refuge instead-​or can little Junior not be able to eat his deep friend corn dog and smile at his Daddy’s I-​phone at the same time while riding these poor creatures.?) Oh wait, memories are being made! Dummies!
The ponies looked bored and miserable, walking in endless circles with squalling kids on their backs. Those of us who love animals are trying to put organizations like this out of business, and we are following up with the organizations that employ you.

I could not be happier with Friendly Pony Parties. I spoke to Terry two months before my son’s birthday party and booked her right away. That was it. No follow-up…nothing, just her word that we are booked for the date agreed. The day of, she confirmed that we were all good to go and provided the names of those who would be coming out from the farm. We had two ponies and the petting zoo and it was a major hit!!! Not only were my children and their friends really excited, but so were the older children and the adults! It was such a beautiful experience and one I am sure my kids will remember for a long time. So worth every penny… thank you, Terry for being you and giving us memories that will last my family a lifetime.

This service was SPECTACULAR! I feel like mom of the year! We had a pony and a mobile petting zoo for my son’s 5^th birthday party, and it was a hit. Even the youngest kids enjoyed themselves — it was definitely fun for all ages. The service was on time, friendly and professional — and they kept the area incredibly clean so the kids did not step in any poop. I was impressed. I highly recommend this for something a little different and fun. You won’t be disappointed — and you’ll be mom or dad of the year too!

1 star– for showing up at my daughters birthday and making her day
2^nd star– for cute and healthy looking animals
–3^rd star– for horrible HORRIBLE communication and professionalism (would call/​email/​text multiple times with questions and never hear anything back)
–4^th star– for booking 2 «unicorns» and only receiving 1, for the animals being hungry and them having to leave the party to get food and bring it back, bring them food! :(
–5^th star– for disorganization (no one at the petting area and then Terry changing the start time late notice, when we had booked and agreed to the time months prior)
Overall I’m just happy that they showed up because I was really really stressed out for months thinking they were not. The looks on my daughters faces were priceless and to me, that’s what I paid for and was most important.
If nothing changed and I knew what would have happened and could have gone with another company, I wouldn’t have put myself through that again and wouldn’t recommend this company… BUT with some tweeting of how they run their business, I think they would be a lot more successful and I would definitely hire them again.

I threw my 2 yr old son a birthday party yesterday and decided to hire the mobile petting zoo. It was such a pleasure! The children and the adults absolutely enjoyed all the animals. They looked healthy, well cared for and they were extremely friendly with all the children. They arrived on time, early in fact, and set up super quickly and the workers were very friendly. I am so impressed with the whole experience I will be sure to tell everybody what an amazing company this is and I’m sure all my guest will be doing the same. I am one extremely happy customer!!!

I had the pleasure of having Friendly Pony Parties and Barn Yard Pals come to our home. The booking process was easy. The animals were clean and all well behaved for our guests. Everyone had a wonderful time. I highly recommend this business to everyone.

Terry is amazing I had face painting a petting zoo and two ponies the animals were well trained and easily handled the children from ages 1 – 7. Terry was very patient and her children did a awesome job taking the kids on pony walks. I would definitely recommend friendly pony partys and will use them again for future parties.

Pacifica’s Earth Day petting zoo was a hit with kids and adults. While I watched, the pot bellied pig napped as the ducks, bunnies and goats enjoyed being pet and hugged by happy children. I watched giggly kids playing gently with friendly animals and heard no complaints from anyone. Even when festival goers with dogs stopped by, the ‘barnyard’ remained calm. I would recommend this petting zoo.

This organization was kind enough to grace the after earth day celebration in Pacifica, with their presence. The animals looked well cared for and comfortable. My nephews loved the baby goats, the adults as well as the children looked to be enjoying the experience.

Our kids had a great time at the earth day event. While it was a bit hectic, I never saw the kids mistreating the animals, although it could have been more organized by having a line and timed intervals per each child.
Over all our kids loved it!

They were at the Earth Day Festival in Pacifica. The animals were in a tiny pen on the pavement, and were in the sun with no shade the entire time. They made no attempt to limit the number of kids who were in the pen with the animals. The bunnies were terrified and huddled up against the mesh walls. They did not monitor how roughly the kids handled the pets — one child picked up the small rooster by the wings. The girl who was seemingly in charge was too shy to tell the kids not to be so rough. This exhibit was a disgrace to the welfare of those small animals, and was totally incongruent to an event whose theme was caring for the environment and creatures on this earth. People who thought this was just so cute were oblivious to how frightened those tiny animals were the entire time. Shame on this business that exploits these defenseless animals for money. I would give them zero stars if I could.

I was planning my daughters first birthday and wanted a petting zoo for kids. After reading the previous reviews I was little nervous about giving them the business. I spoke to Terry over the phone And shared my concern. She was really helpful and answered all my questions. I was texting her every week before the party and she was very responsive. I must admit that she cleared all the doubts that were coming in my mind after reading previous reviews. A day before party I texted her and she responded immediately. On the day of party (which wAs yesterday) her daughter was at our house 15 mins before time. She was very friendly with the kids and the animals that she brought with her were so cute that my one year daughter was all excited. I will definitely have them again for the next party!

We had a good experience with friendly pony parties for my daughter’s birthday party but there were definitely some things which could have made the experience more pleasant and less stressful.
The overall feeling I got was that there the service was disorganized. I contacted them months in advance and when I followed up closer to the event I was told that «they needed to check to see if I was confirmed» and would get back to me. I couldn’t believe it because I’d been confirmed through email months before and had already based the whole party around the petting zoo/​pony. It turned out fine but was just unnecessary stress. They arrived a little late so we were helping them set up while some guests were already there and then I was told that the pony had to be calmed down because there was too much commotion. Huh?! I thought that was odd given that these ponies are for children’s party and kids are loud. The pony was out our front away from the petting zoo the entire time because apparently he needed a quieter space and I wished this prerequisite was communicated with me beforehand. No one was there to man the petting zoo (luckily I’d read this from another Unilocal reviewer) which was so weird because some of the animals would get out of the gate and run around our yard! We had booked two hours worth and they didn’t come back for their animals for four hours! It was nice to have some extra time but I think the poor animals were getting hungry and digging through our grass like crazy! The party had been long over and the sun was going down when they finally left.
Overall, nice people but I think they definitely need to make some changes. The kids loved it and I was happy but I wished some items had run more smoothly and that was able to keep the setup as I planned. This would have all been mitigated if they’d done a better job communicating with me beforehand.

I purchased a booking for a pony/​petting zoo though a daily deal site. I spoke to Terry initially by phone but then she passed on my booking to Liane. Contracts and details were made by email.
So here my good assessments:
–Set up and breakdown was done quickly and the crew cleaned up after the animals
–The animals were well-​card for… clean and sweet with the kids.
Here is the not so good:
–The pony/​petting zoo were to be set and ready BEFORE guest arrived at noon. They did not arrive until 12:20 and then it took another 20 minutes to get ready. The reason given was traffic coming over to East Bay (um, that should have been factored into the travel time)
–The petting zoo was left unsupervised. We asked for someone from their crew to remain back there for the animals’ own safety (kids can get rough) and to provide some guidance on handling the animals. In the end, the parents had to rotate watching the pen
Overall: despite the hiccups, the kids had a blast.

My kids had a wonderful experience at this camp last summer. I didn’t know anyone who had attended this camp but I signed my 5-​year-​old girl who was eager to take riding lessons and her 7-​year-​old sister up for camp here because they have a program that caters to younger riders than most camps which start with 6-​year-​olds. When we arrived the first day I also had my 5-​year-​old son along who didn’t want to be around ponies or barnyard animals because he is super sensitive to smells and doesn’t want to be around animal manure. The camp facilities were so impeccably clean that he decided he would stay and participate in camp that week. My 7-​year-​old is the type of child who can be quite clingy and have separation anxiety so it is tough to put her in a camp where she would get lost in the shuffle. The environment was so engaging and unthreatening and there was so much personal attention to the kids that she felt right at home and had no problem saying good-​bye to me at drop off. All three of my children loved camp that week and have asked all year to go back.
The kids got to ride the ponies each day and got to know an array of barnyard animals – some that were with them all week and each day there was a surprise animal guest. They kids had a journal they wrote in each day and there was a story and a craft each day. It turned out to be a wonderful fit for all three of my children. I will be signing them up again this summer.