A woman rides a hoverboard with ponies through a rural road surrounded by trees during late autumn or early spring, wearing a purple puffer jacket and holding reins of one pony. 9:06
Emma Massingale channel icon Emma MassingaleOriginal creator 577K views Save

Six mini ponies trot behind a hoverboard

On a tree-lined country road, a woman in a purple puffer jacket glides along on a hoverboard. Six mini ponies in coats and boots trot right behind her. more

She is Emma Massingale, a horse trainer and adventurer. "It's impossible not to have a great big smile on your face when you're out with these guys," she says. Peggy, Albert, Sid, Ernie, Cedric and Cyril are out on Dartmoor for a training day, to start getting fit for the summer trips ahead.

"Let's go, boys," she calls, and they're off. Soon she admits she has no idea what is going on behind her. She only meant to ride a short way on what she calls the Segway, but the ponies are "mega feisty." She could do 10 miles, she says, and they would still be going for it.

Sid, the brown pony at the very back, is doing a good job of keeping up. Most of the herd has spent the winter at home. Albert and Ernie have had a few filming jobs, and Cedric and Cyril have been doing driving work as a pair. So now, in the string, those two keep wanting to be side by side. Emma calls that perfectly understandable. Days out like this are how they practice.

Plenty of people can't walk one dog in a straight line. Emma walks six ponies from a hoverboard. The little herd clip-clops under a stone bridge and over a big road bridge, a tidy line of coats seen from high above.

A woman rides a hoverboard with ponies through a rural road surrounded by trees during late autumn or early spring, wearing a purple puffer jacket and holding reins of one pony. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
On a tree-lined country road, a woman in a purple puffer jacket glides along on a hoverboard.

Then Emma goes on foot along a hillside, a giant concrete dam in the distance. The pace slows on the rocky paths down to a rushing brook. On the far side, the ponies drop their heads to graze.

Emma checks the water. It's 8.1 degrees, and it feels a lot colder than that, she says. The beanie is staying on. In she goes anyway. "Oh my gosh, that is so cold."

Afterward she squeezes river water through the filter in her bottle, so no germs, and makes a hot chocolate. "I think that's probably the only reason for getting in cold water," she says.

The ponies stay on their lines all day, which isn't how her outings usually go. Strangles is going around Dartmoor and lots of horses have it, so she's keeping her six close and away from other ponies. Then the whole short-legged parade heads for home.