Austin Pony Parties

Elgin, United States

2.3

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

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Telephone:
+1 512-947-1696
Website:
www.austinponyparties.com
Address:
Serving Elgin and surrounding area
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Accepts Credit Cards
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (Elgin) 4:00 PM Sunday, June 29, 2025

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Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
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Sunday –

Description

Specialties

We are a professional Pony Party company. We specialize in children’s birthday parties, but also do corporate events, day cares, and school events. If you have any activity which involves children, the ponies are always a hit with them.

Our goal is to have a Safe Enjoyable time for your children.

We offer Unicorns, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and just regular ponies. Our ponies are very well groomed and always well decorated. The standard decoration includes flowers and glitter. We also do some theme parties. If you have a special need, let us know what it is, and we’ll try and decorate the ponies to fit your needs.

The ponies are part of my family. They are very much loved and extremely well taken care of. I have a very special bond with each and every one of my ponies.

History

Established in 2002.

This business was started by Lori & Michael Liesman of Bastrop, Tx. In 2013 the business was sold to Shirley Donohue of Elgin, Tx.

Shirley has over 20 years experience breeding, raising, and showing Arabian horses. When Shirley retired in 2013 she wanted to do something fun with the horses. She loves children so this was a very natural business for her to get into.

Lori Liesman helped Shirley to start Premier Pony Parties, and later offered to sell Austin Pony Parties to Shirley. Shirley combined the two pony party companies and moved forward with the Austin Pony Parties name.

Meet the Business Owner

Shirley D.

Business Owner

Business background — over 40 years as an Accountant.

Over 20 years experience breeding, raising, and showing Arabian horses.

Born in Houston, Texas. Moved to the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area when 12 years old. In 2001 moved to the Austin metropolitan area. For the last 9 years have resided on a farm in Elgin, Tx. We feel like Elgin is our permanent home.

Started working with the ponies in 2013 and absolutely love every minute of it. They bring an incredible amount of joy to my life.

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20 reviews of Austin Pony Parties

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Place rating: 1
Victoria, TX
SCAM. One star is too high for this company and I question if the other reviews on this site are even real or made up by the company itself. They are thieves and crooks. We hired them for a 4 year old’s birthday party this past weekend. They require payment in full by credit card, and then confirmed the day before the party. They did not show up, did not call, and did not offer a refund. Never answered any of our voicemails or even tried to make up an excuse about not showing up. Its hard for me to understand how they can live with themselves being that these are parties for CHILDREN that they are ruining. They are crooks and scammers. For the sake of your birthday child, stay far, far away!
Place rating: 3
Fort Hood, TX
After reading so many negative and unhappy, disappointed folks, Austin Party Ponies reputation makes other pony companies concerned that folks will think twice about inviting a pony to entertain their event or party. This is far from the truth. There are so many great companies that will show up, will do what they promised, will not take a deposit and run, matter of fact some companies expect to be paid the day of the party or event. With that thought, I would like to offer a suggestion of a company that will not take a deposit, only expects to get paid the day of your party, will show up, will not disappoint your our your child. Please call 512 522 4758 or personal cell 651 283 4960.
P. S. If this post offends, or is against the rules, or etiquette of this site, please with all due respect REMOVE this post.
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
With so many honest competent pony companies in town, why use one that has a less than stellar reputation? My daughter was excited about going to a pony party. The weather was less than accommodating and the pony had to be cancelled. Oh well, it happens. We were all fine until John, the owner promised to return the deposit to the party hostess and then was never around to do so. The party hostess is one of my good friends and has been run around in circles with lies, deception and false promises about getting her money back. The reputation of Austin Pony Parties is getting tarnished very quickly because this is not an isolated incident. I know I WILL NOT be using Austin Pony Parties for my daughter’s upcoming pony party. I would read the reviews here very closely and think twice if you’re considering renting a pony from this company in the future.
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
BEWAREEEE! SCAM ALERT! this John is a Scam artist that will take your money and ruin your kids party! NO SHOW, NO CALL, NO REFUND, check the reviews! The only good ones are fishy profiles!
Place rating: 1
Leander, TX
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! I don’t ever want another kid’s party to get ruined like ours did!!!
We had booked a pony and a petting zoo, from Austin Pony Parties to arrive at 9:30 am and the pony rides to start at 10 am. Well 10am rolled around, and they still were not there. So I give them a call, and the owner answers the phone, «Hello» — sounding like he just woke up. He then proceeded to tell me that he was on his way, then a minute later back tracking his story that he had just loaded the horses up. 20 minutes later I get a TEXT– not a phone call, a text, that he had a «flat tire» (with a picture that was clearly taken from Google Images) and wasn’t going to make it. Remember, I’ve got a house full of kids, plus my baby girl WAITING for these ponies. So I ask where he is, and my Husband can come fix the tire, and he proceeds to tell my some more bullshit that doesn’t make sense. He tells me that he has already issued my refund– because I had to put a deposit down. I called the bank this morning, and they have nothing on record of this. We took a look at the Unilocal reviews of this company… THE SAME ISSUE IS HAPPENING OVER AND OVER AGAIN. NO CALL, NO SHOW, NO REFUND. I used this same company, Austin Pony Parties last year and they were amazing, so I didn’t even think to look at the reviews. Little did I know, they have a new owner within the last 8 months, and he is basically a fraud! It makes me sick to my stomach thinking that this guy is going to keep ruining children’s birthday parties.
Place rating: 5
Austin, TX
We just celebrated my daughter’s 6th birthday with John at Austin Pony Parties and she had the best time! We hired them for a «unicorn» themed party and got to meet, ride and paint Willow. She was a beauty and she and the staff were awesome with all of the kids. John really pulled through for me, right in the nick of time because I had initially hired another company who stood us up day of party. He showed up, ready to meet our needs. Even brought our birthday girl a super cute unicorn plush for being a repeat customer.
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
**********************************BUYER BEWARE**********************************************
Let me start by saying that they don’t deserve 1 star. John and Kyle of Austin Pony Parties are crooks. Do not hire them. Your kids will be disappointed. You will regret it.
On June 26, 2015 I hired Austin Pony Parties to come to my kid’s party on July 18th. Services were paid in full through an invoice through Square. On July 16, 2015 I called to confirm their arrival time and to make sure they had the correct address. I spoke to John, who put me on hold because he had to look at his phone calendar. I was on hold for a bit of time, which seemed odd. He came back on the line and told me that he was in a bad area with no reception and couldn’t pull up his calendar. He assured me he would call me back.
No return phone call that day. I texted and emailed that night-​no response.
Friday, July 17, 2015 I spent the day calling and texting both phone numbers with no response. I had a horrible feeling they would not show up.
Saturday, July 18, 2015– Party Day. Guess what… no show. no call. nothing. complete disappointment for the birthday kid.
That night after sending a stern email, I get a response. «he claimed that his grandmother died and that he had 15 other birthday parties that he had to cancel and that I was the only one that had a problem with it.
I can understand death– i get it. A simple text would have sufficed. Oh, and apparently EVERYONE else was contacted but me. You see… he NEVER had me in the books. He overbooked himself, made up a terrible excuse and couldn’t own it. or worse, never planned to work the party.
HE NEVER REFUNDED MY MONEY. AFTER DISPUTING THE CLAIM WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY, HE CONTINUED TO REFUSE TO REFUND.
THIS MAN IS A THIEF. IT IS CLEAR FROM ALL THE OTHER REVIEWS THAT HE HAS DONE THIS MANY TIMES.
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
We had a Unicorn Party for my little girl’s 4th birthday… she and her friends had a wonderful time and were so incredibly excited to ride a unicorn! APP got stuck in traffic and ended up being late but really did everything in their power to make up for it which we appreciated. Happy kids, happy parents… success. My daughter opened her presents sitting on a unicorn surrounded by her friends, wearing a princess dress… doesn’t get much better than that for a 4 year old! Traffic happens, it’s all in how you handle it, and they handled it very well. I will definitely recommend them!
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
I’m beginning to think John H. Howard II, owner of Austin Pony Parties, does not actually have any ponies.
I’m among the many who were duped by this charlatan. I made the reservation in early September for a party on September 26th at Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza. I spoke to John over the phone about the few negative reviews on Unilocal that he had received at that point and he assured me that the no shows were the result of an unreliable crew that has since been fired. Unfortunately, I believed him.
I called him the day before the party to confirm and he gave a 9:45 arrival time and they would start at 10:30. I started calling him a little after 10 to see where he was and he didn’t pick up. I finally got through and he told me he was on the way there and would be there in a little bit. By the time the party was halfway over I knew he wasn’t going to come. He had the nerve to send an email apologizing and saying that when they got there (at an unspecified time) they were turned away by the restaurant. I knew this was a bald-​faced lie and when I called the restaurant to check I was told they were never there.
I’m sad that even MORE kids’ parties were ruined since ours. Please do NOT use this company.
By the way, he started up his Facebook page again (the first one was taken down because of so many bad reviews.) It has one 5-​star review! If you look closely, it’s from an employee of Austin Pony Parties! I swear, you can’t make this stuff up.
Place rating: 1
Round Rock, TX
ANOTHER NO SHOW! I have requested my deposit back and I have not heard anything back. He also never responded to any of my emails that I sent before our party to confirm the time of our party. I am very disappointed, but was not surprised because he has no showed so many parties. I have reported this company (or person) to Pay Pal. I hope that no one else books this company and has their little ones birthday party ruined by this individual.
Place rating: 5
Pflugerville, TX
We just had a stellar my little pony birthday party! We rented 2 ponies and they painted them as Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. They gave us a discount for booking and paying in full prior to the event. They sent email confirmations and I also verbally confirmed the day before the party. My 4 year old just had the best party ever!
Thanks for helping make our day special Austin Pony Parties!
Place rating: 5
Manor, TX
I have booked with Austin Pony Parties before and was very pleased with there service and I had them come this year for my sons 4th birthday and he brought a completely white pony like I asked was 30 minutes earlier and was very friendly with my son and his friends.
WONDERFUL COMPANY TO USE.
I’ve recommended him to LOTS OF FRIENDS OF MINE and John is amazing. Theses rude comments on here don’t sound nothing like the experience I’ve had and my friends have had as well john and his horse handlers are all very friendly with my son and his friends.
I also recommended them to my sons school, and they fully donated their time with the ponies time for the fall festival fundraiser they are always looking to help raise money for schools!
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
BEWARE!!! DO NOT USE!!! RUINED MY DAUGHTER’S FOURTH BIRTHDAY! TOOK OUR DEPOSIT AND RAN.
We booked a party back in March for my daughter’s birthday on June 6th and back then all the reviews were positive. Since then, obviously things have gone downhill. I called the owner 3 times the day before the party to confirm everything was all set for the party the next morning. He answered the phone all three times and said he did not have his appointment book in front of him, but he would call me back. He did not. The next morning we called an hour before to see if he was on his way and he did not answer. He also did not show up to the party. No call, no cancellation, no show. We called after the party but he did not answer. (Obviously he knows our number now.)
We had 12 extremely sad and disappointed 4 year olds at our house and no ponies. My heart broke as I had to explain to my daughter that the ponies weren’t coming. She loves horses and had been SO EXCITED for months, talking about how Rainbow Dash was going to come to her house for her birthday. I want to cry even writing this review, remembering how I had to let her down.
The owner could have told me he screwed up when I called the day before. He could have come clean and said he wasn’t coming. It would have sucked, but it would have given me time to come up with something else for the party last minute to save the day. I don’t see how someone can live with themselves knowing they ruined a 4 year old’s birthday and made her cry. I don’t usually bother writing reviews but I wanted to warn other parents that this guy is a crook. Now he has $ 130 of our money, our deposit, and we will have to dispute the charges on our credit card cause he won’t respond to our refund requests.
Place rating: 1
Las Vegas, NV
Well, I’m super sad to add another pony ‘no show’ review. We requested a pony for 2:00 on the day of our party. We received an email from John saying they had other bookings that day, but he could fit us in at 1:00. We were ecstatic that they were making special effort to fit us in! John was super nice on the phone and took my cc info for half the price as a deposit.
Then on the day of the party… No pony. No correspondence. We called a couple times and emailed, and never heard back. We were disappointed but worried that maybe there had been an emergency or something. Except now I see other people have had a similar experience. I guess I should’ve checked Unilocal before booking.
Now it’s the day after our party– still no response to our calls and emails, or a refund offer.
Place rating: 5
Round Rock, TX
This company recently obtained new ownership by John. We personally met with John who VOLUNTEERED himself, his ponies, and a handler (very nice young man) for an Autism fundraiser in Georgetown on April 18 2015. John and his help arrived early, had the ponies very well groomed and painted with an array of different colors. He also brought several different ponies for the children to choose from and to alternate the ponies when they became tired.
John had indicated he had made some staffing changes to ensure phone calls were being returned and his customers were pleased with the service. John and his handler were very patient, gentle and understanding to both the children and their caregivers.
It was obvious by the interactions the two had that they truly cared for their animals and that were looking to ensure both the children and the ponies were happy. Thank you John for your kind service to the autism community. I loved seeing the smiles all all the little faces.
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
Don’t ever use this company!
John the owner is a liar and fraud. Booked them for my daughters 4th birthday and they never showed! I called and they said the ponies died in an accident the day before. My daughter was distraught and I felt so bad for the owner. Fast forward a month and still haven’t received a refund for the $ 400 I paid them. I’ve emailed and called numerous times only to be told to wait a little longer and the refund should post. Sometimes they answer the phone or an email and other times my attempts to get an answer are ignored. I googled and looked on their Facebook page to see if I could find any information about their ponies that died in the «accident». Nothing. Complete lie in my opinion.
Off to call Amex purchase protection and let their collections department deal with this thief. Your a sad excuse for a human being John. To run a company that is suppose to bring joy to a child’s birthday party and then not show, lie and steal money from families is beyond criminal.
Place rating: 1
Hutto, TX
They never showed up. My poor little 5 year old daughter kept asking for the unicorns and THEY NEVER SHOWED UP! I paid IN FULL several months prior to the event… They called 30 minutes before saying they were running late… 3 hours later THEY NEVER SHOWED UP. No call — no show. Nothing but a sad disappointed let down 5 year old birthday girl. I tried calling several times only to get a voicemail — but when my husband called with a different number they cheerfully answered… Still saying they were stuck in «traffic»… It’s not about the money. Its about the MEMORY of my first born child’s ONLY 5th birthday party… I would NOT recommend this company to ANYONE and I’m seriously considering the legal actions I could take against them.
Place rating: 1
Brooklyn, NY
Don’t use this company! I don’t like writing negative reviews, but I couldn’t remain silent on this one.
I flew in from NYC for a friend’s little one’s birthday. All she could talk about was her ponies. How excited she was to have her ponies at her party. In fact, she had been talking me about them since they were booked and confirmed months ago.
Come the day of the party… And NO PONIES. Not even a call from the owner to say why there were NO PONIES.
When my friend called they said it was because of the rain. THE SKIES WERE CLEAR. How absurd and a horrible way to run your business. Also, extra kudos for making a three year old cry.
Get your act together. This is not how you run a business. Had you called the night before we could have scrambled for another alternative.
Place rating: 5
Austin, TX
They do weddings!!!
We were actually their first ever wedding and it was a blast! John and his team were terrific and such great sports about braving the freezing weather that evening.
The wedding was at Barr Mansion and the 2 white ponies, along with a table with paints and brushes, were set up right outside the reception room.
They braided the ponies hair with things to match the wedding theme and paint the bride and grooms names on their sides. Guests were allowed to come out and paint the ponies, pet them, and get pictures with them. The ponies were so freaking soft, I asked them what they do and John went into great detail about how they are cared for, which includes massages and acupuncture! It’s very obvious they take great care of them and that is incredibly important to us as animal lovers.
We were very happy with their service, would definitely recommend them, and possibly use them again in the future.
Place rating: 1
Leander, TX
We hired Austin Pony Parties to do my 4 year olds birthday party. We asked for a white rainbow haired unicorn pony. As well as the hay treasure hunt. We did not receive either also they were 1 hr late. Lots of little girls with no ponies is no fun. Also paid in full a week ahead. No refund offer was made. They did give me two horses for the price of one for their mess up. The one that they had brought was obviously tired and reared up with one of the smaller girls.
Would not recommend using this company to anyone.