What is cadence in dressage and how is it developed?

Cadence in dressage describes the marked, accentuated rhythm of a gait that has developed to the point where each beat has a distinctive emphasis and a quality of deliberate, measured power — a quality that distinguishes the highly developed trot or canter from merely regular movement at the same pace. Cadence is most associated with the piaffe and passage, where the powerful, suspended steps each carry a distinctive accentuated quality that gives these movements their characteristic appearance of measured, controlled power, but cadence is also visible and valued in the collected trot and canter of horses at lower levels when these gaits have sufficient impulsion and engagement to show marked regularity. The German term Takt, often used alongside cadence, describes the regularity of the beat; cadence adds to this regularity the quality of emphasis and power that comes from genuine engagement rather than merely regular stepping. Developing cadence requires first developing all of the underlying qualities that the Training Scale describes — rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness, and collection — because cadence is the expression of genuine collection rather than an independent quality that can be developed on its own. A horse with good cadence in its collected work has been developed through systematic gymnastic training to the point where it carries a significant portion of its weight on engaged, active hindquarters that step with deliberate, powerful strides rather than quick, shuffling ones. The half-halt is the primary tool for developing cadence within a gait because it momentarily asks for increased carrying power and then releases the energy into the next stride, creating the pattern of deliberate loading and elastic release that cadence describes.