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The head should show a balance of Friesian nobility and Morgan refinement; the eyes expressive and soft, the face straight or slightly dished and short. The ears should be small and upright with turned in tips.
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The neck should rise from a high set on the withers and show a clean arch to an upright head set.The throatlatch should be refined to allow flexion.The appearance is regal.
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The withers should be defined yet blend into both neck and back cleanly.
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The powerful shoulders should be a blend of depth of the Morgan with sloping angle of the Friesian.Movement to be free.
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The back should be strong, well muscled and short to medium in length and the barrel round and deep. A long or weak back is a fault.It should blend into broad loins and a well muscled and round croup.The croup should not be higher than the withers.
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The legs should be straight, lighter boned than a Friesian but more substantial than a Morgan with well-defined joints. The front legs should have forearms longer than the cannon bones and the rear legs have well muscled gaskins and cannon bones that are perpendicular to the ground. Legs may or may not be feathered.
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The feet should be size proportionate to leg bone mass, well formed, hard and strong.
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The height of the Moriesian should fall between 15.1 and 16.1 hands though variations are acceptable.
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Any color is accepted though most common are black, bay, and chestnut.
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The horse's temperament should be kind, alert, and willing. Both heritages provide the Moriesian a combination of stamina and versatility with calmness and loyalty.
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All movement should be free and forward with suspension.The walk should have a distinct four-beat cadence and good length of stride.The trot should have a two beat cadence, be balanced, animated, and show forward reach and engagement behind.The canter should have a three beat cadence, be well balanced and powerful with drive from behind.
Most Moriesians are black, it being the dominant gene color of Friesians, however, some black Friesians do carry a recessive red gene and can produce chestnut foals. The Agouti gene can then modify black by pushing it the the points of the horse, creating a bay. The Agouti gene is dominant, so a black pigmented horse only needs one copy of the Agouti gene (A) to appear bay.
Every horse has a base color, which can be black, bay, or red. This is controlled by the Red/Black factor and the Agouti gene. The Extension gene controls the production of black or red pigment throughout the horses coat. The allele for black color (E) is dominant over the red allele (e), so a horse only needs one copy of the black allele to appear black-based.
The rest of the color genes act as modifiers on the base coat of the horse. There are several genes that dilute the color of the horse. While these genes all function to dilute pigment, they are not all expressed in the same manner. The registry now has a two buckskins, a grulla and now a dun!
