Review: 42688 Horse Stable and Riding Academy
Posted by MeganL,
Now that we've seen the images for the summer wave of Friends, it's time for me to finish out the first wave (six more to go! That was a large wave). As sure as there are two waves of the Friends sets every year, you can always count on at least one set that features horses.
This year, one of those sets is 42688 Horse Stable and Riding Academy. What will distinguish this set from the rest? There's just one way to find out.
Summary
42688 Horse Stable and Riding Academy, 735 pieces.
£69.99 / $89.99 / €79.99 | 9.5p, 12.2c, 10.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
This year's horse set checks all the boxes for the equine loving builder
- Two different horses
- Interesting roof construction
- Good level of play value
- Horses are expensive, how else do you justify the price?
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are six numbered bags, one small unnumbered bag containing numerous decorations, three 8x16 plates, one 10x10 half circle plate, two instruction books and a sizable sticker sheet. Those barn doors take up a lot of real estate!
Minidolls and animals
There are three minidolls in this set. Liann and Aliya from the regular crew are here to spend the day horseback riding. Cindy is a new character and is a riding instructor at the stable. All three have nice printed torsos, while Cindy has a jaunty air thanks to the yellow scarf flung around her neck.
All three minidolls have some nice back printing. I particularly like the details on the back of Cindy's vest.
Considering this is a riding stable, it will shock exactly nobody that there are horses included! This set introduces us to Thunder (grey) and Coco (not surprisingly, brown). Coco in particular has an ornate and flowing mane which is nice to see.
The horses have some feline companions. The first is Chip, who we met earlier this year in 42677 Dog Treats Bakery. At the time, I wondered if Chip belonged to Sage, but since Aliya was also in that set (and indeed, wearing the same shirt), I wonder if Chip now belongs to Aliya.
The other kitty in the set is Bear, who we originally met in 42666 Cat Birthday Party. It seems like Bear is a bit of a freelancer, as there are no common minidolls between that set and this one.
The completed model
The first side build is a storage spot for several accessories - reins, saddles, and tools for mucking out the stable. It's all under the shade of a lovely flowering tree with a butterfly.
A horse blanket was included in the set, but I neglected to take a picture of it. The slots in the blanket provide ample space for the decorations held in the storage box.
Aliya and Liann's lessons must include show jumping, as there are jumps in the set, including one jump over a small pond of water. Perhaps it's a steeplechase?
Horses have to eat, so it's good to see that there's a supply of hay. It has to be tiring work carting the Friends around.
The stable building looks much like you'd expect a stable to look, with large barn doors and a horseshoe over the top. I like the pink floral accents that adorn the front of the building. Thunder and Coco have stalls on either side of the main building.
The barn doors slide open, allowing easy access to everything inside.
Floral accents continue along the side of the building. Snacks are readily available for each horse in a trough on the side of their stable. A ramp piece is used for the roof portion of the stable, which is an interesting use for that part.
The rearview of the stable shows that there are lots of details available for play - a classroom area with horse accessories, and some sleeping quarters upstairs.
The sleeping quarters look quite comfortable for two (does this mean that Cindy is out of luck?), and there's a pet bowl on this level, showing that Bear and Chip have not been forgotten.
Stickers provide some good detail for the sleeping quarters, which look comfy enough for some certain visitors.
(Note: visiting sloths not included in this set.)
Plenty of accessories are available - books, a camera, and a small plant are found here. I like the floral lights in this area, too.
Downstairs, there are several accessories for Aliya and Liann to take lessons, including books and a white board that tracks chore completion.
A slightly closer look of the downstairs shows the water hose that's used to wash down the horses (along with a small water spill). The whiteboards on the back of the barn doors outline some of the lessons. The flipside of the portable whiteboard looks like Liann has been practising some of her art!
Overall thoughts
A horse set in the Friends world is a perennial - you can always count on at least one every year. This set checks all the boxes for a stable - cute horses, stables, sleeping quarters, wide barn doors. There is plenty of play value here, especially thanks to the numerous accessories included in the set.
I like that the horses are different and not just different colours of each other. The barn space is open and has plenty of room for all of those accessories - other stables have felt a bit cramped and didn't have as open a space for play.
Like several other Friends sets this year, my main complaint about this set is the price. For example, last year's 42654 Pony Ranch and Stable has a comparable parts count (and includes two ponies) but costs $20 less.
It's a good set for the horse-loving audience, but it comes at a steep price.
51 likes
46 comments on this article
This is a cute set, and maybe one to get in a 25% off sale.
Horses for courses
I daresay Bear is loyal to whoever is feeding him at the moment. That is to say, no one, because I don’t see any food being shoveled into his mouth at this moment. And no mention of the three miniature horse head decorations?
"I own a horse, it's not anything grand, it's just for me, it's my horse. And I'm looking at getting a second one."
"A second one? Wow. What would you do with a second horse?"
"It's no one's business."
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.
A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?
Nice set and price ain't bad either in £, € and $.
@Vaionaut said:
"A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?"
I've also been wondering about that!
It's a business decision and doesn't need the frequent negativity of people commenting on what they think is a bad idea and disparaging either Brickset or Brick Search with outrage.
@ohrmazd said:
"It's a business decision and doesn't need the frequent negativity of people commenting on what they think is a bad idea and disparaging either Brickset or Brick Search with outrage.
"
Well, usually it does take some escalation before the commenting is ended on an article. Is this the first time commenting was already closed when an article was published?
Thanks for the review Megan! This is a nice set, and one to nab if you see it for the right price.
The sticker set is really quite good; whoever designed it has put a lot of thought in, and there are some really lovely details. I actually don’t mind stickers and am glad to have them when it means getting a level of detail you can’t often get with printed pieces, as is often the case with Friends sets. (Does that mean I get officially drummed out of the AFOL community?)
@Feroz said:
" @ohrmazd said:
"It's a business decision and doesn't need the frequent negativity of people commenting on what they think is a bad idea and disparaging either Brickset or Brick Search with outrage.
"
Well, usually it does take some escalation before the commenting is ended on an article. Is this the first time commenting was already closed when an article was published?"
No, there have been a few hot-button topics where comments were disabled from the start, to avoid giving anyone the opportunity to say anything inflammatory. In all previous cases that I noticed, I immediately recognized that the comments were going to be rough, before noticing that they’d already been disabled before the article hit the front page. This one, I actually just assumed they were open until I saw someone mention they were not. So, I wouldn’t think they’d need to be closed, but someone else clearly did.
I do think that is very strange
And no really info on what's it's good for
Seems like somebody just hacked in
And dropped some link's
@Lyd___Lost_Records said:
" @Vaionaut said:
"A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?"
"
Probably a lot of people will say it does the same thing as brickset and a minifig scanner. But you have to pay for it. I also don’t know how the 3% cashback works for this app.
Good horse set. IMO Lego needs to get us other Horse tools soon.
Would be so funny to actually include a different colored sloth in the sets, like they do with the frogs sometimes.
Thanks for the review! I have yet to buy a Friends set, but these are always fun and informative to read. The sloths always steal the show.
@StereoBricks said:
" @person_that_uses_brickset said:
" @Lyd___Lost_Records said:
" @Vaionaut said:
"A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?"
"
Probably a lot of people will say it does the same thing as brickset and a minifig scanner. But you have to pay for it. I also don’t know how the 3% cashback works for this app.
"
Their CMF scanner has always been garbage, and then they started charging to continue scanning. I use omgbricks and it is superior in every way. BrickSearch is just an enshittified app, and Brickset is cowardly for teaming up with them and not owning it with closed comments. Pathetic."
This 100%
I tried commenting yesterday and it was buried/hidden, but I just see no value from this app/partnership. Everything it does I can/already do for free elsewhere (and better). What’s the angle?
@StereoBricks said:
" @person_that_uses_brickset said:
" @Lyd___Lost_Records said:
" @Vaionaut said:
"A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?"
"
Probably a lot of people will say it does the same thing as brickset and a minifig scanner. But you have to pay for it. I also don’t know how the 3% cashback works for this app.
"
Their CMF scanner has always been garbage, and then they started charging to continue scanning. I use omgbricks and it is superior in every way. BrickSearch is just an enshittified app, and Brickset is cowardly for teaming up with them and not owning it with closed comments. Pathetic."
In what way is it pathetic? People have the option to sign up for it if they choose to, but are under no pressure to do so.
Comments like this are probably why Huw decided there was no need for comments on the other article.
If I had one wish, it’s only that IRL jump design is so creative, and that isn’t really reflected here and that’s a bit of a shame.
@CapnRex101 said: "Comments like this are probably why @Huw decided there was no need for comments on the other article"
Comments like what? You mean legitimate criticism? I haven't used this app myself, but I've heard similar complaints about it earlier - it used to be free, then they suddenly demanded a subscription for a service based on community resources/work (finding and sharing the minifig codes). And yes, "enshittifiction" is a real word and a real problem, basically taking something that works perfectly fine and then making it worse, often in order to make (more) profit - it has some connections to "rent-seeking", trying to make profit from a common good.
"There was no need for comments on the other article" - it's attitudes like this that made me lose all confidence in "mainstream media" - it was way too easy for them to disable comments on controversial subjects, when they knew the common opinion disagreed with the official stance on a matter, or when it was a flat-out propaganda piece. Eventually they stopped allowing comments at all, then they crawled up behind the paywall and became irrelevant.
I assume the problem was less the criticism and more language like “garbage”, “cowardly”, and “pathetic”. Which seems to me more like insults.
If anything, I’m generally of the opinion that Brickset allows commenters to abuse their columnists more than they should in the name of allowing public critique of the site’s choices. Even if I disagree strongly with their approach to commenters criticising Lego IP partners.
Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set.
@MeganL said:
"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
Totally agree. If only the comments were open on said article we wouldn’t have had to hijack the space here for the discussion.
Upon going back to admire the sloths as they deserve I noticed the flower lights I missed the first time. Those are *adorable*.
@StereoBricks said:
" @Hiratha said:
"I assume the problem was less the criticism and more language like “garbage”, “cowardly”, and “pathetic”. Which seems to me more like insults."
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
They did the same thing when they endorsed a scalper platform, but at least the comments were open at the start. This is another example of endorsing bad products or services. But hey, anything for a buck I guess."
Just hoping the announcement doesn't preempt a sellout of BrickSet to Tiro Media, which would be a bit of a shame.
There's an email address in the article for directing comments about brick search, that's why they were disabled.
Nobody is forcing anyone to use the app and nothing is changing here. It just provides another option.
Now, back to the sloths....
@Huw said:
"nothing is changing here."
Phew!
@axeleng said:
"I haven't used this app myself, but I've heard similar complaints about it earlier - it used to be free, then they suddenly demanded a subscription for a service based on community resources/work (finding and sharing the minifig codes)."
In terms of the minifig scans, I don't even see how anyone could make a go at a subscription-based CMF scanner, given how many free options there are out there. There's even an article on this site from November 2024 that compared five different scanners, and put the paid one at third best. Whatever makes people willing to fork over the price of seven CMFs per year, it clearly can't just be the ability to scan CMFs. Even the ability to update Brickset set lists while offline seems dubious, since anywhere you can make an online purchase, and many places where you can buy off the shelf, would have internet access that allows you to just directly update your set inventory. Is it that important to be able to whip out your phone in a location where you have zero bars and no wifi, just so you can show some random person the size of your LEGO collection?
I thought it was odd that this was the first time I'd seen an article with comments preemptively closed, when it didn't seem likely to draw inflammatory comments, but looking back at the article when the pay model was first announced, and again when an objective comparison ranked them third out of five, I guess there was reason to expect inflammatory comments after all.
@MeganL said:
"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
So...the doors indicate this stable has enclosed space. Why are the horses in fenced areas on the outside of the building? It's pretty clear that Heartlake City gets snow in the winter, and it seems a bit cruel to not at least provide them with four walls and a roof during a blizzard. Also, it's a shame they made two blue sloths, and no purple ones.
Well said Dave. I value the integrity of the staff and believe the intentions behind the announcement were good, but the disabling of comments inevitably leads to bad optics unfortunately. I thought the problem of vulgar comments by unhelpful users in the past had already been addressed with the introduction of the ability to block certain people.
@MeganL said:
"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
The sloths are very cute :)
And funny!
@Hiratha said:
"If I had one wish, it’s only that IRL jump design is so creative, and that isn’t really reflected here and that’s a bit of a shame."
In fairness, they’re showjumping jumps, which are always a bit more limited in design - really only the wings get creative, although you can get boards / wall fill. Cross country jumps are where it really gets interesting, but I’ve never seen an XC set from Lego - Friends or otherwise
My science teacher in the second grade had a pair of rats in the classroom named Cocoa and Thunder, so I am very amused to see this pairing of names again after all these years.
@Flyingfish2023 said:
" @Hiratha said:
"If I had one wish, it’s only that IRL jump design is so creative, and that isn’t really reflected here and that’s a bit of a shame."
In fairness, they’re showjumping jumps, which are always a bit more limited in design - really only the wings get creative, although you can get boards / wall fill. Cross country jumps are where it really gets interesting, but I’ve never seen an XC set from Lego - Friends or otherwise
"
I was counting the wings! I watch a lot more show jumping than I do cross country.
@betapi1674 said:
" @StereoBricks said:
" @person_that_uses_brickset said:
" @Lyd___Lost_Records said:
" @Vaionaut said:
"A little confused why the comment section for the Brick Search article is turned off.. any plausible reason for that?"
"
Probably a lot of people will say it does the same thing as brickset and a minifig scanner. But you have to pay for it. I also don’t know how the 3% cashback works for this app.
"
Their CMF scanner has always been garbage, and then they started charging to continue scanning. I use omgbricks and it is superior in every way. BrickSearch is just an enshittified app, and Brickset is cowardly for teaming up with them and not owning it with closed comments. Pathetic."
This 100%
I tried commenting yesterday and it was buried/hidden, but I just see no value from this app/partnership. Everything it does I can/already do for free elsewhere (and better). What’s the angle?"
To be fair, I also thought the Discounts at Amazon article that you and I both started commenting on (since the was removed, but it appears that when a new Discounts at Amazon article is posted, all other ones are hidden from the site. The article still exists, it’s just not listed on the front page anymore.
@tyresoflaherty said:
"To be fair, I also thought the Discounts at Amazon article that you and I both started commenting on (since the was removed, but it appears that when a new Discounts at Amazon article is posted, all other ones are hidden from the site. The article still exists, it’s just not listed on the front page anymore. "
Certain articles, specifically those that are auto-posted on a recurring basis, only keep the latest instance attached to the "front page" queue (even if it has fallen off to the second or third page), and comments on any delisted articles are usually automatically closed at the same time that the new article goes up and the old one gets delisted. There's a primary tag below the byline that can be used to click through to a list of all past and present articles in that same class. Random Figure gets you all the RFotD/RMotD articles, Random Set does the same for RSotD articles, and Advent Calendar gets you every Advent Calendar regardless of theme.
I'm not sure if this is what the OP was referring to. It's unclear if they were referring to the article or their comment getting buried or hidden. Sometimes comments get deleted if they step too far over the line. I can't remember if entire comment sections have been purged before.
@PurpleDave said:
" @tyresoflaherty said:
"To be fair, I also thought the Discounts at Amazon article that you and I both started commenting on (since the was removed, but it appears that when a new Discounts at Amazon article is posted, all other ones are hidden from the site. The article still exists, it’s just not listed on the front page anymore. "
Certain articles, specifically those that are auto-posted on a recurring basis, only keep the latest instance attached to the "front page" queue (even if it has fallen off to the second or third page), and comments on any delisted articles are usually automatically closed at the same time that the new article goes up and the old one gets delisted. There's a primary tag below the byline that can be used to click through to a list of all past and present articles in that same class. Random Figure gets you all the RFotD/RMotD articles, Random Set does the same for RSotD articles, and Advent Calendar gets you every Advent Calendar regardless of theme.
I'm not sure if this is what the OP was referring to. It's unclear if they were referring to the article or their comment getting buried or hidden. Sometimes comments get deleted if they step too far over the line. I can't remember if entire comment sections have been purged before."
That makes sense. I didn’t realize the deals articles could shift so quickly, so I was mistaken in thinking our comments had been deliberately hidden due to the subject matter. And the discussion here, while unfortunate to be on a different article, has been kept intact so far. I’m good with that.
I honestly don't know why there is such negativity when we mention Brick Search. But knowing there would be, we decided not to enable comments, because having negativity there would defeat the object of the article.
It's unfortunate that Megan's review has been used instead and to her I apologise.
As I said above I know it's not for everyone, but it is a well-funded and feature-rich app that provides an alternative means for people to access their collection data at Brickset that some may find useful. If you don't, that's fine, please continue to use Brickset.com on your mobile.
When considering collaborations like this ,one question I ask is, would it better for the app to hook up to Brickset, or provide its own collection management system? The former is surely better for end users, and for Brickset. So, a win-win.
Now, please, let's get back to the sloths...
@MeganL said:
"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
But i do like the Sloths and the same goes for part https://brickset.com/parts/6525015/horse-no-26 that im sure need a small load of
"A ramp piece is used for the roof portion of the stable, which is an interesting use for that part." Doesn't strike me as all that unusual, considering that 6552 did it more than thirty years ago.
@lordofdragonss said:
"Good horse set. IMO Lego needs to get us other Horse tools soon."
Speak for yourself, I'm holding out for some Cow Tools.
@MeganL said:"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
Is that why the axolotls haven't showed up again? Did they see this coming somehow?
@Huwsaid:"Now, back to the sloths...."
I was going to say that you meant "back to the set," but I think we all know why we're really here...
@Huw said:
"There's an email address in the article for directing comments about brick search, that's why they were disabled.
Nobody is forcing anyone to use the app and nothing is changing here. It just provides another option.
Now, back to the sloths...."
Sorry to keep this going, but respectfully, that link is to email the Brick Search team. I think the community is trying to give feedback to the Brickset team, and the comment section is generally used to facilitate discussion among members. An email to the Brick Search team fulfills neither of those functions.
Kinda just a reality of community management.
Anyhow, good luck. I think everybody's trying to do their best.
@dukedishin said:
" @Huw said:
"There's an email address in the article for directing comments about brick search, that's why they were disabled.
Nobody is forcing anyone to use the app and nothing is changing here. It just provides another option.
Now, back to the sloths...."
Sorry to keep this going, but respectfully, that link is to email the Brick Search team. I think the community is trying to give feedback to the Brickset team, and the comment section is generally used to facilitate discussion among members. An email to the Brick Search team fulfills neither of those functions.
Kinda just a reality of community management.
Anyhow, good luck. I think everybody's trying to do their best."
If one truly wishes to contact the Brickset team, there is a Contact Us link at the bottom of every page on the website which seems like it would function perfectly well.
Personally, as — I suppose — a member of “the community”, I don’t especially appreciate a Friends review, which already tend to get a little less engagement for reasons I choose not to speculate about, being hijacked to complain about a partnership I was perfectly happy ignoring as not for me, thanks. I do not feel there is any part of the community that was enhanced by such a thing.
And by people who aren’t properly respecting the traditions of Brickset Friends comment threads and are ignoring the sloths, to boot.
I’ve never heard of Brick Search before this comment thread, but the fact that no one outside of the Brickset staff has anything positive to say about it, and that any negative comments relating to Brick Search have been deleted, tells me everything I need to know. Incredibly disappointing and frankly childish behavior.
@Hiratha said:
"Personally, as — I suppose — a member of “the community”, I don’t especially appreciate a Friends review, which already tend to get a little less engagement for reasons I choose not to speculate about, being hijacked to complain about a partnership I was perfectly happy ignoring as not for me, thanks. I do not feel there is any part of the community that was enhanced by such a thing.
And by people who aren’t properly respecting the traditions of Brickset Friends comment threads and are ignoring the sloths, to boot."
As I said earlier, we all know we're here for the sloths, and some people are just ignoring them! It's criminal, I tell ya!
@MeganL said:
"Hey, the sloths are getting quite offended that there are more comments about a completely different article than about how cute they look in this set."
The sloths are adorable, as always.