My Paso Fino filly then mare had really nice pasterns of proper length. I had no problems riding her for hours on the trail. My mare was a born pacer, and had a pleasant, smooth normal speed walk. Seasickness might have been a danger when she paced, but not hip bursitis.
I boarded at the barn where she was bred. Her breeder got bent all out of shape because she did not have a 4-beat Paso. He wanted me to put on head gear that did “work” the one time he talked me into trying it, but I then told him I would rather die than ride her with that abusive piece of sh*t thereafter.
Then, using Forward Seat principles of training, listening to my mare, and experimenting with which leg and hand aids would work best I got her to reliably do the 4-beat Paso without any extra gear or other methods of torture.
Her breeder swore I would be unable to get the 4-beat Paso using Forward Seat methods. He was wrong. Yeah, it took a while before I could get her above the speed of a snail but as her muscles got stronger it got easier for her and she only paced if I insisted that she go FASTER RIGHT NOW!!!, probably in reaction to my rudeness.