Pony Tales

It is long past time for me to speak out about something. Recently a friend asked on Facebook about Pony Tales. I told her I did not recommend it not knowing that she had dropped her kids and a friend off that morning. She immediately called me and I shared my experience with her. When she picked up her kids she informed me about their experience which was not good at all. She has posted about her experience and has gotten some positive and negative feedback from others, one of which seemed to be upset because she "bashed a small business". Yall I love supporting small businesses and I know she does to, but that does not mean we will support a business who treats people horribly just because it's a local small business. I only think if I had shared my story, I could have spared her family their experience and spared another child from having them put their hands on them. It's time for me to right my wrong and apologize to anyone who had a negative experience that my story could have prevented. Last year I took my son for horseback riding lessons. My husband and I arrived on time and were not met by anyone at the gate. We stood there and finally were met by one of the owners we will call G. G gave off a very creepy vibe I can not explain but he wasn't giving the lesson. He showed us around the stables and a few times used language I would not use around my 3 yr old. We reminded him there were little ears there and he just laugh. Finally his wife K came to give my son his lesson. We talked a few minutes and she explained she asks the parents to not interfere with the lesson and I told her I understood. She was odd and a bit condensing but we were going to give it a chance. She took my son and the pony into the round pin and she did not close it. She was fooling with the pony and did not see my son run out. He was about to sit in water so I stopped him. She yelled at me to not interfere and I told her that he ran off and was about to sit in water to which she replies she didn't know. I said exactly you didn't know where he was so I'm going to be right here watching him to make sure he is ok. The lesson was actually pretty good except a few times that I thought she expected him to understand something that a toddler wouldn't understand. Overall, though, the lesson itself was good and My son did great. After the lesson my son took off running towards the stalls and my husband went after him. K yells very ugly at my husband to leave him because he was going to spook the horses. And what do you think will happen if a 3 year old runs in the stall and spooks them. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him back, but after my husband and I talked we decided to bring him back on our terms because he loved it so much. We would make sure to stay close by to keep him safe and ignore K telling us to not interfere. We also agreed this would be a trial basis. 2nd lesson: again there was no one to meet us for a while. When we went in, K's dog came in andmy son wanted to play with her. When it was time for the lesson K told him to come over and My son said he wanted to pet the dog. K was very ugly with him and I reminded her he was 3 and loves animals. So I asked him if he wanted to ride today or if he wanted to go, he said he wanted to ride. Again, he did amazing and loved it. 3rd lesson: The dog is there again. My son immediately goes to play with the dog. K tells him he isn't here to play with dogs so he can either come ride the pony or he wasn't getting his lesson. He starts to cry and throw a tantrum jumping up and down. This lady begins to mock him jumping up and down throwing a tantrum. G is right there laughing and tells me K is wonderful with kids and does this all the time. Well I had seen enough and start walking to go get him. He starts heading to me and she grabs him to bring him toward the pony. So I tell her oh no you can take your hands off of him. I tell him let's go and he starts running to me. K attempts to grab him again and I tell her do not touch him. So I pick him up and bring him to the car. He is still very upset. This lady approaches my car and tries to tell him we'll try again next week. I turn and tell her to walk away and not to speak to my son. I close his door and start walking to the driver seat and she begins to try to give me parenting advice. I told her I was getting into my car and driving away so she might want to move. Since then I have learned about other people having bad experiences there and a child being pushed by her at a camp. I have never experienced anything like this in my life!! The worst part is my son loved riding and I can not find another place to take his age, but I do not trust these people with my child and will never bring him back.

Great ongoing experiences and lessons for my kids. They started riding with Miss K at birthday party where she was hosting pony rides, then started taking private lessons at her stables. My kids learn very differently and Miss K is responsive, thoughtful, and directed, tailoring her lessons and feedback. It's never hard to get the kids motivated to go out and ride with Miss K.

I signed my daughter up for camp and all she does is talk about horses! She has had more fun here than any other camp! The owners are incredible with the kids, very safety conscience and kind! I will definitely book them for our birthday party too!

What a great place for taking horseback lessons for your children. I contacted the owner to schedule a lesson for my two boys and she was prompt in returning my phone call as well as my email. She sent me prices with descriptions of what they offer. I paid $50 for two kids, which is a pretty good price in New Orleans (see the prices attached in photo section). Ponytales also do parties and can bring their ponies to your party. I think their prices are reasonable. The ponies are super cute. There is also Molly, the pony with a prosthetic leg that they are taking care of. There is a book written about Molly and she is really famous. We really enjoyed meeting the horses at their stable. The lesson was good, my kids loved it. Highly recommend this place :)

Last year, we got Pony Tales to come to our school for our three y/o's as a field trip! The kids love them! We got the pull cart and one pony to ride. For 40 kids and 1 hour, it wasn't enough time for each child to get a solo ride and a group ride, but the sweet workers stayed till each child got two rides! We went over a little, but they were kind enough not to charge us extra. They were amazing!!! This year we're adding another pony!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

My daughter loved her lessons she started when 3 and a half and has been going there for ten years now highly recommend the camp so much fun

Some people should not work with kids. My five year old daughter did two days at the Pony Tales camp over her spring break. After the second day, she told me that the man, who I believe to be the co-owner, yelled at her repeatedly about having proper form while riding and then mocked her for crying. She said that the incident happened after they came in for popcorn after riding the ponies. While riding, the man had repeatedly yelled at her and the other younger children to keep their toes up. Though I would prefer people in charge of young children not use that tone, this is not the entire basis for my complaint. After the group came back inside, my daughter started crying because she thought she had done a bad job riding. (Other children present in the room also said she was crying and that they were told to "leave her alone because she'll stop crying eventually." Another child said that the man repeatedly told her to "stop lying" about why she was crying.) My daughter said that she was pulled aside in a corner by the man, who then mocked her for crying: "I can cry too. Waaaah. (made crying motions) I can cry louder than you." She said this made her feel sad and ashamed. She felt that she had done something wrong. She also said that she was confused about how to react because no adult had ever treated her this way. (I say this last part to give context about how wildly inappropriate and out of the ordinary this behavior was for a caregiver of a child.) When I wrote a complaint directly to the business, the owner (I think the man's wife...) told me that she had to go out of town for an emergency. She begged me not to post negative reviews and to give her time to investigate. It has been over two weeks, and she has not followed up with a resolution. I understand that these are hard times, and we are all doing our best. But when you're entrusted with the care of someone else's child, that must be the priority. The man at this camp should NOT be working with children. I would strongly suggest that he stick to working with animals, and they hire someone who knows how to communicate with children in a respectful and appropriate manner.

Third time is NOT THE CHARM! I am shocked to experience firsthand how racist and rude the staff are at Pony Tale - St. Rose. We have interacted with them twice in previous years and today, our third time was just traumatic for my child and our family. My child and family looked forward for weeks to attend a birthday party at Pony Tale - St. Rose when we arrive the staff has the worst customer service and it kept getting worse by the minute ... When it came time for the most exciting part, Pony Ride, they asked how much my 7 year old weighed! Disclosure: They did not ask anyone else about their weight... not before, not during, and not after. My child has never been seen or considered overweight, and I can't help but correlate this experience with being the ONLY minority customer at their location today. They did not allow her to ride! My child immediately felt the blatant disrespect and asked to leave. My child, my family, and I will NEVER return to this racist place and we will ensure NONE of our friends and family ever do business with Pony Tales. Good riddance!

My daughter absolutely loved her Easter holiday camp at pony tales. She had so much fun riding Barnaby and gumdrop, and learned all about caring for horses. The people were really kind to her and prompt at getting back to us. We received a photo during camp, that really made our day! This is a great place for kids of all ages. My daughter is almost 5 and it was a great fit for her. Thank you ponytales!

Had a birthday party for 4 year olds here. It was so much fun! They talked about it for months. The pony rides were the highlight, but they also fed goats and ran around the farm, and had a blast. Kaye, the owner, was extremely helpful during the planning phase, and it was a very laid back, easy party-the ponies did all the work! My only advice would be to bring some camp chairs for any older folks that might want to sit in the shade and watch the pony rides, and reserve an extra pony if you have a big group, like we did (that way, the little ones don't have to wait too long between rides). Also, bring covers for any food that you bring to protect from barn flies. Definitely recommend for a party!