A male friend of mine was at the barn when a woman dismounted and the horn on her western saddle hooked her t shirt and got stuck. She was not wearing a bra. My friend had to pick her up to where she could unhook her shirt.
Talk about awkward!
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I once fell off, just a silly topple after a stop at a x-rail, but it became less silly because the seam over the toe of my boot somehow managed to get hooked on the ball part of the peacock stirrup. It was lucky the horse I was riding was short, about 15 hh, and not phased by the fact my leg was hanging off her. My trainer had to rush over from the middle of the ring to get my foot unhooked. I was extremely lucky nothing worse happened than sitting still for 30 seconds waiting for assistance.
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And being able to support your own weight on your arms up, off the horse would prevent shirts and other clothing snagging on a horn, or other equipment/tack.
You shouldn’t be sliding down off the horse making contact with the horse/equipment and your front.
I see so many kids with their feet/boot all the way home in the stirrup, toes down while not in safety stirrups and using stirrups too large for their feet… Cringe
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There are parts on a saddle that can cause issues. Even in a stock saddle we never slid down, you can tear yourself up or scratch the fenders.
The first time I used a saddle with a horn (vs the stock saddles without) I ripped open the front of my blouse. Going under some branches I leaned forward and the horn went in between the buttons and as I straightened… pop, pop, pop. There I was in all my glory with my bra exposed to the world. Good thing I wore my good one. 
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IMO it’s a bit of a sensationalist “opinion piece.” The number of lives saved or major injuries prevented from safety stirrups is likely far more than the number of people who have had a freak accident where the stirrup caused bodily harm.
If the author (who seems like just another A Show Trainer With An Opinion) was so interested in safety, he should have also talked about using bit keepers on fullcheek snaffles - which have caused serious injuries. 
Honestly, not sure why this guy is so hell-bent on banning them.
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Many years ago, I had a horse who went in a full cheek.
I used to let him rub his head on my leg after riding, when he was sweaty and itchy.
Until the day he caught the bit on the belt of my full chaps.
He lifted me off the ground until the strap broke.
I have not allowed a horse to rub his head on me since.
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Frankly full cheeks even with keepers still freak me out. The keepers sit so low, the shank of the full cheek is still so exposed. I watched a trainer-daughter combo a few years ago, sitting on horses next to each other both wearing full cheeks, allow their horses to rub their heads on each other like it was cute. I cringed as I expected catastrophic results. But both mother and daughter are people with horrible, nasty personalities; they would not have accepted comments on this behavior and would have only caused a large scene. Neither horse got snagged, but 
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I witnessed a wreck at the boarding barn where a young lady got her sweatshirt caught on a horn as she was dismounting. Or maybe she reached down to pat the horse’s neck or something. Because she still had her right leg on the right side of the horse. But she got her sweatshirt caught and as she was trying to undo it, a clap of thunder (we were in an indoor) spooked the horse and he bolted. He made several laps to the right, with her hanging off his left side, and her head coming within inches of the arena walls and exposed 6 x 6 columns. I don’t recall how long this went on but it seemed like a lifetime. She eventually tumbled off and was taken to the ER with maybe a slight concussion and no other injuries.
This all has made me question how it is I actually get off, because I don’t even think of it. It’s somewhere in the swing-right-leg-over,-with-weight-on-left,-remove-left-foot,-bounce-down-slightly-away-from-horse realm. I certainly don’t slide down; that sounds horrible. I don’t make a dramatic jump away and down; landing in any type of way off of 18 hands is hard on trashed and degrading joints to be adding acrobatics. It’s one of those things I’ve been doing for so long without issue that I can’t even describe how I do it. I have more issues with getting my trainer UP on a horse when her spurs that have a decorative horse head with pointy ears snag my breeches, and occasionally my leg, as I attempt to yeet her upwards on whatever tall beast we are working with at the moment. Where there’s a potential for incident, there’s a way.
Incidents like this were why I was taught horse is not to rub their face on anything while bridled. Not humans, not themselves (catching the bit on boots, polos, you name it), not the environment, or other horses. There are just too many things that could go wrong.
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Yup.
I now teach mine that they can rub their faces on a grooming towel that I hold out for them, but not on me or other objects.
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I knew someone years ago who would always let her horses rub their heads on her after she got off because she thought it was cute.
Then one day she got mad and started screaming at the horse because she was wearing a cashmere sweater that day.
I don’t care how smart you think your horse is, it’s still expecting a lot for them to differentiate between cashmere and other materials before they decide if they can rub on you.
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I was holding a horse with a full cheek way back in the day, and he just hooked my loose shirt. I gave a few folks a free show! Thankfully, I was wearing a bra! 
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He’s back…
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/opinion-proposing-a-peacock-stirrup-ban-to-protect-children/
“To protect children.” THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
Seriously, there are a million other things that I see at shows that are significantly more dangerous than the 0.0001% chance of someone getting hung up in a peacock stirrup. This guy is tilting at windmills.
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I mean maybe we should just ban stirrups. I had a young horse reach around and grab one and pull…this resulted in us falling into the fence.
I’ve just acquired a couple sets of peacocks a few years ago now, for a couple of extra saddles that needed stirrups. And I use them. And I suggested a very green friend get them too. There’s always danger involved in what we do with horses, Choose your danger.
I watched a fella I know get hung up in a stirrup at the racetrack a few years ago. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever seen someone do it. He was a very well respected gallop boy, and always quite “high” on himself too. And rightly so, he was good at his job. He was galloping a well known older stallion, who had a bit of a reputation for being difficult and quirky. I was walking home on the outside fence, so had a good view of what happened. The horse propped, and stopped, and the rider came off, with one foot caught in the stirrup (NOT a peacock) and standing on the one leg. And the horse stood there, and didn’t move. And the rider hopped around with one foot on the ground, and one foot caught up HIGH. IDK how he stayed upright like that, but he did. I thought he was gonna die for sure. And eventually, he got the caught foot out of the stirrup. And everything was FINE. That incident is what led me to re-invest in Peacock stirrups in my old age.
I don’t “slide” down the side of a horse when I dismount.
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So the author is a lawyer (also an accomplished equestrian with a huge family of horsemen, but still). Take a look at his website and you can see that he’s really pushing the equestrian angle and looking to stay relevant and push some agendas.
Clearly, they have an incident where someone got injured and they’re looking to build a class action of neglience and product failure. With only a few mentions/incidents or articles about it in the past, he’s gotta get more published so that he can use it as evidence.
Sigh… this sounds less like you’re worried about “the kidz” and more like a great opportunity to get additional examples to build their big lawsuit.
Furthermore, little kids probably have a greater risk of having their foot slip through a regular size stirrup with no give… and being dragged around by a spooked pony sounds far more dangerous that some ripped beige jods. If anyone has taken a look at new tall boots and paddock boots, the stacked heel is getting shorter and shorter, it’s only a matter of time before someone foot slips through and gets lodged.
So is that going to be his next article?
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If you slide down the saddle to dismount don’t you also risk catching your clothing on a normal iron? A button or buckle could get caught in the leather at the top of the iron, in the loop of the iron or in the stirrup pad.
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Plus I think it hurts, I’ve had an iron twist a bit and shell shocked my privates. I either take both feet out and lightly hop down or if I’m in the arena I use the mounting block.
Most of what he mentions are injuries during dismounting. I don’t understand why we should ban the stirrups instead of taking the extra step of flipping them over the saddle when you’re getting off? Seems to me it is the same as putting on your seatbelt before you start driving your car - an extra safety precaution!
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These articles are partially just free advertising for the author/his law firm (the little end blurb literally points people to his law firm site) and I’m not sure exactly how I feel about that. Can I advertise my business for free in COTH by writing a hot take op ed? Or do you have to be “in” with the USEF for that kind of repeated free advertising? (hypothetical, I have no business to promote and even if I did wouldn’t choose to do it that way, but you catch my drift).
Also, as worded, this suggested rule seems very broad…
<< No piece of equipment shall be attached to a saddle which has an upward or outward pointing projection, hook or similar rigid object capable of catching a rider’s clothing or person while dismounting.>>
Almost anything could be a projection or rigid object. Any kind of martingale or breastplate attachment with a snap type closure, the metal logo some saddle companies affix to their stirrup keeper, the d ring on a saddle, a grab strap that clips on to the pommel, a standing martingale with a kind of bulky buckle, certainly many aspects of a blow up safety vest, etc. etc. Heck, isn’t any stirrup iron, of any type, a rigid object attached to a saddle that could catch you on the way down? Do we all need to ride in those no stirrup no flap exercise saddle things under this rule? I mean, bareback is safest in terms of catching something during a dismount. Should we be advocating for no tack at all?
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And nakedness?
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