Groton — Residents at a nursing home waved and shouted from their windows, pressing against the glass to catch a glimpse of Twizzler the pony and Jerry the llama, who surprised them with a visit Wednesday morning.

The 16-year-old pony and 24-year-old llama from Mystic Equestrian Center trotted around the grounds of Groton Regency Center, 1145 Poquonnock Road, with their handlers, Nancy Lupienski and Jeanne Martin, for about an hour, Twizzler adorned with colorful bows throughout his mane. The facility is on a strict lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was shocked to see them,” said Hedwig Mezzo, who is looking forward to celebrating her 102nd birthday on May 25. “You never see those kind of animals in this area, so that’s why I got a kick out of it.”

“You see those animals in the jungle only,” she added.

She said she has enjoyed seeing visitors — animal and human alike — through her window. “It makes the day go by faster,” she said.

The center, which has about 118 residents in its nursing facility and another 73 in its retirement center, has reported no positive cases of the novel coronavirus. Still, residents have been required to stay in their rooms unless necessary and have only been able to communicate with family and friends through their windows or via video chat.

Lupienski, who also runs Mystic Party Animals and works with Beechbrook Farm Equestrian Rescue, said she had the idea to bring the animals to visit people who are isolated due to social distancing restrictions. She posted the idea on Facebook and was excited to hear from the staff at Groton Regency.

“I know with what’s going on with the virus some people aren’t getting the visitors that they normally would and this was just a way that maybe I could help make someone’s day more special,” she said, holding onto Twizzler as he grazed. “I think people might feel more isolated right now so I felt that this was going to be something that I could very easily do and I could really make someone’s day.”

Martin, who also works with the equestrian center and the rescue, said she was delighted to be a part of the visit and loved seeing everyone’s excited reactions as they stood up against their window sills, some with the help of nurses, to get a closer look at their surprise visitors.

“A few people when they looked out the window and didn’t know the animals were coming had a big smile and it was really nice,” she said. “It felt really good to see people smile, in nursing homes and nursing centers people haven’t been able to go outside and that must be really hard, so I think we should keep remembering to bring things to them.”

Resident Theresa Rowley, 86, said that while she really misses in-person visits from her husband, son and sisters, she thinks Groton Regency does a great job of keeping her and her fellow residents entertained.

“They make us feel happy here, they bring us something every day. Sometimes it’s an ice cream, just to keep us happy,” she said.

But the animals made them very happy, she said. “The pony had all ribbons in his mane and the llama was big, tall and beautiful, I enjoyed that,” she said. “It was a surprise, it was very thoughtful and it made a lot of these elderly people, including myself, very happy.”

t.hartz@theday.com