In 1875 he entered the Nikolaevsky Engineering School, from which he graduated in 1878 in the 1st category and in the rank of second lieutenant, and was assigned to a Lifeguard Sapper Battalion [ru].

In October 1881, he passed the entrance examinations and entered the junior class of the Nikolaev Academy of Engineering [ru],[1] where he was expelled two years later due to "domestic circumstances".

Its construction was initially intended for the strategic needs of the military department of the Russian Empire, but 1899 it was passed to the civilian Ministry of Railways.

The acting manager of the CER from the period of April 28, 1918, to November 5, 1920, was the former head of the road traction service engineer Vasiliy Lachinov.

[3] He remained in this high ranking post until September 13, 1918, when, after long and difficult negotiations, he recognized the Provisional Siberian Government.

He transferred his sovereign powers to the Provisional Government, resigning as the Temporary Ruler and remaining High Commissioner for the Far East.

He retained his authority after Provisional All-Russian Government formed in the city of Ufa, and after power passed to Supreme Ruler, Admiral Alexander Kolchak.

There he remained at the head of the administration of a vast territory of the railway alienation line until the Karakhan Manifesto appeared, in which the Bolshevik government relinquished Russian rights over the CER to China.

After the Karakhan Manifesto was given to China, Horvat retired from the railway and in 1920 left for Beijing, where he engaged in political and social activities.