Note: My reviews summarize the opinions and experiences of a 6-year-old girl and her father, both of whom have been playing with LEGO Friends for less than a year.

This was the first LEGO (and LEGO Friends) set we assembled and played with -- it was given to my then-5-year old daughter for her birthday -- and we have not stopped since, closing in on owning about half the Friends theme in our fourth month. This set remains our favorite.

The set was an absolute thrill to assemble (for the dad) as it contains both a vehicle and a horse trailer. The companion staging area is a single, medium size assembly with a clear function and a complete look -- as opposed to many small, dainty companion assemblies without clear palyability scenarios that some other sets bring to the table.

From day one, this set has been the centerpiece of our play scenarios. Now that we have a newborn foal, he likes to travel in the trailer with the Robin the horse (he fits!) and hang around her staging area.

And Emma takes the jeep everywhere, even when the trailer is unhitched and Robin is out grazing.

Some slight issues:

• Emma's hair/helmet won't stay on especially as she gets in and out of the jeep or on and off the horse, and that's just too bad.
• Getting Emma to hold the reins takes some work and prbably is not accessible to a 6-year-old.
• The smooth bricks that support the obstacle are great for playability (as Robin can easily knock off the rail when she does not do a good jump), but make it harder to store the set as a complete assembly.

Set #3186 Emma's Horse Trailer: This set from the LEGO Friends Theme is a great looking set with some interesting design choices. It also is a unique vehicle compared to some of the other's we've gotten from past Themes. I think it's a pretty worthwhile set to pick up or track down and here's why.

Box/Instructions

Like all LEGO Friends sets I find the box design for this set really fun and stand out. It shows a lot of fun creativity for the builders who are interested in these sets and features a lot of details in a great display setting for the set you build. Overall a great box that really attracts the eye while on the shelf.

The instructions match the box designs for LEGO Friends in all levels. They share some of the images on the front and involve easy to follow instructions for building the models. My only complaint is that some sets don't have cardboard protection, which really hurts the manuals due to the sheer amount of empty space found inside the boxes. And since LEGO Friends sets rely a lot on stickers for details I feel that LEGO needs to introduce small sticker protection bits of cardboard to prevent damage or creasing/bending.

Parts

This set has a lot of great parts, the Horse Trailer itself uses great pieces in unique colours and the car/jeep used to pull the trailer has some nice dark maroon parts also. The horse and saddle are fun pieces too even if they don't match other Themes design aesthetics, they work quite good for LEGO friends sets. The sheer number of Mini-Figure accessories is also a great deal for this set.

Minifigures

Like most Friends sets this one only includes a single Mini-Doll, for a set of this size some might find it a bit disappointing however considering the horse included with the set with only one mini-doll to ride it makes sense.

As Mini-Dolls go, since this is an early release set there aren't many unique pieces for Emma, she's got the same torso found in other sets and is sporting white riding pants. The only thing unique to her is the hat, this riding hat for the Mini-Dolls works great because unlike the helmets some sets have featured this piece is sculpted with the Mini-Dolls hair in mind. She has a ponytail in back and bangs on the side, so she doesn't look like she's bald underneath it.

Accessorywise she includes a lot of the same ones found in other animal based sets, there are a lot of ribbons and bows, a bar of soap, a few brushes, combs and a squeeze bottle for water for washing the animal. There's also an apple and a carrot to feed her horse. Overall it's a great Mini-Doll to include in this set.

The build

The build in this set is very satisfying, it comes in two numbered bags the first of which builds the car/jeep and the Mini-Doll while the second builds the horse trailer itself and a small open air stable or something like that for the horse. It uses stickers for the details and is just all around fun to build. It's also quite straightforward with out any tricky sections for the build.

The completed model

Emma's Horse Trailer looks great, the car/jeep from bag one is a really impressive build. It's thick and chunky looking, making it stand out as a great looking and powerful vehicle, this one could go offroad if necessary.

The trailer is also a solid build and works great, we don't see many of these types of vehicles in LEGO and when you do find one it's great to see them look like solid fun to play with builds. Admittedly it does suffer from having too few pieces for the actual trailer build and a load of stickers instead of printed details. Some people might call it a juniorized build, but honestly I don't see it.

The small outside stable thing for the horse is a nice little build as well, featuring three of the sculpted brick pieces and has a fun little lantern build on the side. The yellow crate is a nice piece too.

Overall opinion

I honestly think this is a really great and unique set, it works great with the Summer Riding Camp and Stables sets and is a solid stand alone set as well. The horse is a bit of a different piece, but it still works in the land of Friends. I do wish Emma had an extra hairpiece so she could drive the car/jeep without wearing her riding hat, but it isn't a deal breaker.

I really recommend picking this one up if you can still find it, it's a great overall set and stands out as a rare vehicle build from LEGO.

Emma has helped raise Robin since she was a newborn foal. She always takes great care of her, grooming her, feeding her and training her to be a show horse. Together, they have already won several prizes and they make a great team. This little play set comes with everything kids need to roleplay the experience of bringing a horse to a show and preparing it for a competition.

The Emma minidoll reuses common minidoll parts but does include a hairpiece covered by a riding cap. Robin is also a common horse mold with an open back that can either have a 2x2 double curved brick placed on it to complete the back or a riding saddle to allow a minidoll to fide it. There is also a rubberized horse bridle included in the set for riding.

The rest of the set consists of a small open air car pulling a horse trailer, a small stable area and a practice jump. The car is an interesting combination of light pink and dark red and has an open chest in the back for storing bows and grooming accessories. The trailer is medium azure, built with large, curved panels decorated with stickers, and has a gate at the back that drops down to become a ramp. Inside, there is plenty of room for Robin to stand and the trailer connects to the truck with a tow ball, allowing it to swivel in turns. The stall is a single wall with a carton of snacks, carrots and apples, a saddle rack and a hook to hang the reins from. 1x1 yellow textured bricks are also included and used to make the practice jump.

This set was released in the first year the LEGO Friends line was out. It has some very nice features, and it is perfect for kids that love horses. The set includes a lot of fun accessories and great colored parts. However, it was made during the period that LEGO was having some trouble with their brown and dark red pieces, meaning that many of the parts in this set are prone to being brittle. The build is surprisingly intricate for a set designed for kids 6+, with detailed grill on the car and break lights and roof light on the trailer. It is a little over the $.10 per part threshold. It’s worth considering that it does include many larger parts such as Robin. However, it really could have used a second minidoll to really justify the price.