My new [dangerous] love

So, if you know me, you know I am soft-spoken, shy, and non-confrontational. I don't like to be aggressive and I like to be safe. But that is starting to change thanks to my new found passion for POLO!!!
For those who think it is a simple sport where you idly sit upon a horse and swing a stick at a ball, you are sadly mistaken. There is a lot to the game: handling high-strung horses, keeping on the correct side of the line of the ball, watching where your team mates are and where your opposition is, remembering which way your goal is, out running others to the ball, being able to hit from either side of the horse in either direction, neck hooks, rear hooks, catching other's mallets, foul shots. But my favorite part of the game, and this surprises people who know my personality, is riding off, or bumping. This is where you literally run into a player, horse's shoulder to horse's shoulder, in order to move them away from the ball. You can get pretty physical and aggressive, and if you get your knee right in front of the other player's knee, you can check your horse up and force them to slow down, too.
The polo ponies are absolutely amazing athletes, too. They are so eager to follow the ball, and seem to enjoy riding off as much as I do. They do spins on the haunches at a canter on a dime with change to spare. They put up with the new riders getting their shots figured out and take a few strikes to the legs like champs. They are by far some of the most fun horses I have had the opportunity to ride.
Of course there are dangers to this game. You can get squished between another rider and the wall. Or you can get hit by someone else's mallet or the ball can whack you in the face. I recently had a horse get squirrelly with me and go too fast around a corner. His legs went one way and his body-with myself attached-fell the other way. I've been healing my sprained ankle since then.
Despite the dangers and aggressive nature of the sport, I love it so much, and am looking forward to playing for the OSU JV team this term, my first match being at Stanford in a few weeks!