Fond Memories
Today, while looking for a bookmark, I found my old collection of Bella Sara cards. Sadly not all, as I had a stack of the golden cards in a card holder that I cannot find anymore.
I remember collecting them back in the day, maybe around 2008 or something. I was never really a horse girl, more one by proxy. My mom used to go horse riding and dragged me along. She bought me all sorts of horse merch, from books, magazines, and well, Bella Sara cards.
I actually wanted Pokémon cards. Everyone had them at the time, except for me. Pokémon was bad, but the horse cards weren't.
Bella Sara was special though. The horses weren't just horses. There was all sorts of fantastical creatures.
My mom must have spent a lot of money on them. Even though I did not collect for very long, I had quite a few of them. I would take them with me everywhere. In those card holder albums. Stare at my favourite horses for hours on end, instead of playing with other kids.
I have rather vivid memories of coming along to the summer festival of a motor sports club my father was a part of. How I sat on the bench there, looking at my little collection and making up stories about these colourful horses.
A few of my peers also had Bella Sara cards. We would sometimes compare and trade. There was no game attached to it, unlike other TCGs. Bella Sara was truly just about collecting cards.
There was also a website. You could play all sorts of games there. I didn't get it at the time. My horse remained a foal throughout the entire time I played. I think there was also some sort of Club Penguin clone there. But I also really didn't get it.
Today I found a restoration project of the old flash games, too.