He won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta four times – three times as a stroke – and he twice stroked the winning crew in the Stewards' Challenge Cup at Henley on the two occasions when he competed.

[citation needed] After the war, he returned to Oxford to help re-establish rowing at the university.

He was the strokeman of the Leander eight, which won the silver medal for Great Britain rowing at the 1920 Summer Olympics, coming within half a length of winning.

In 1947, Horsfall was elected a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta, and the following year, he was manager of the British Olympic Rowing team.

[6] At the outbreak of the First World War, Horsfall joined the Rifle Brigade but later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps;[7] He qualified as a pilot on 31 December 1914,[8] and reached the rank of squadron leader.