— The Coat Guide
The short answer: jet black, and almost nothing else. The KFPS studbook standard requires a fully black coat with at most a small white star — and centuries of selective breeding have made most pure Friesians genetically homozygous for the dominant black allele.
That said: chestnut Friesians genuinely exist, grey Friesians almost never do, and the “white” or “paint” Friesians on social media are nearly always crosses. This guide walks through every coat colour you’ll actually see on a Friesian-looking horse and what each one means for the buyer.
— Every coat you’ll see
The breed standard
A jet, lightless black across the body, mane, tail, and legs. The KFPS standard prescribes this colour and culls breeding stock that doesn't match it. The depth of the black is part of what gives the breed its photographic quality — Friesians don't reflect light the way most horses do, which is why they read as almost sculptural under stage lighting.
Frequency · ≈ 99 % of all registered Friesians
Genuine but rare
A liver- to copper-red body with a flaxen or red mane and tail. Caused by two copies of the recessive 'red' gene (ee), which is masked in most Friesians by dominant black (E). For decades chestnut foals were excluded from the studbook entirely; today they can be registered in a separate appendix. Famous chestnut Friesians include several from the Tjalbert and Wybren lines after recent gene testing.
Frequency · < 0.1 % of foals
Almost always a cross
A horse born black that gradually fades to grey and eventually to flea-bitten or pure white as it ages, caused by the dominant grey gene (G). The grey gene is essentially absent from the pure Friesian gene pool — if a horse looks grey, it is almost certainly a Friesian Sport Horse with an Arabian, Andalusian, or Lipizzan ancestor.
Frequency · Effectively zero in pure Friesians
Sport Horse only
A black body with a brown undertone or a reddish-brown coat with black points (legs, mane, tail). Pure Friesians do not carry the agouti gene that produces bay; if you see a bay Friesian-type horse, it is a Warlander (Friesian × Andalusian) or a Friesian × Quarter Horse cross. Bay crosses can be beautiful and athletic but are not pure-bred.
Frequency · Cross-bred only
Cross-bred only
Black-and-white or coloured-and-white spotting patterns. Never appears in pure Friesians, because the spotting genes are not present in the breed's gene pool. A black-and-white Friesian-looking horse is a Friesian × Gypsy Vanner cross or a Friesian × Paint cross — both common in the United States, often marketed as 'Friesian Sport Horses.'
Frequency · Cross-bred only
Not a real colour
Many black Friesians develop a reddish or chocolate cast in summer from prolonged sun exposure, especially on the mane and tail tips. It's not a separate colour — it's UV damage to the coat. Most show grooms manage it with shade, fly sheets, and pigment-rich feed; it fades back to true black in winter.
Frequency · Cosmetic; affects most black horses
— Behind the coat
Horse coat colour is controlled mainly by two genes. The extension (E) gene determines whether the horse can produce black pigment; the agouti (A) gene controls where on the body the black pigment is distributed. Pure Friesians have been bred for centuries to be EE aa — two copies of the dominant black allele, two copies of the recessive non-agouti — which produces solid black across the whole body, mane, and tail.
Chestnut Friesians carry two copies of the recessive red allele (ee), which masks the black entirely. The recessive red allele was quietly carried by some bloodlines for generations before modern DNA testing made it traceable. KFPS now permits chestnut registration in a separate appendix as long as the parentage is confirmed.
What pure Friesians don’t haveis the grey allele (G), the tobiano spotting allele (To), or the overo / sabino spotting alleles. Any horse with these traits isn’t a pure Friesian — it’s a Friesian Sport Horse or another cross. Marketing language can be ambiguous; the registration paperwork is not.
— For the buyer
If pedigree matters to you (and it should, for any horse over $20,000), colour is one of the easier ways to verify you’re looking at a pure Friesian.
Black coat, at most a small star, KFPS papers, parents both KFPS-registered.
Any other colour or marking, often spectacular but registered with FSHR (Friesian Sport Horse Registry), not KFPS. Almost always at least 50% Friesian by parentage.
Bay, grey, paint, or palomino with Friesian features (mane, feather, build) — typically one Friesian parent and one of another breed. Value driven by the individual horse, not the registration.
Real but rare. Registered in the KFPS chestnut appendix. Often priced similarly to black KFPS horses; sometimes at a small premium for novelty.
— On the property
Of the seventeen horses still being placed during the closure, fifteen are pure black KFPS Friesians. The two exceptions are the family’s personal mounts — Anika, a red-bay Warlander (Friesian × Andalusian), and Marrit, a black-and-white Paint cross. Both are being placed alongside the studbook horses.
— Frequently asked
