Along the brook's left bank stretches the woodland known as the Großes Mayen, which reaches an elevation of 352 m above sea level.

Branching away from each other in Horschbach's village centre are the roads to Glanbrücken, Welchweiler and Hinzweiler, each one of which is only loosely built up.

South of this mesh of roads is a housing development whose streets climb up the Herrmannsberg massif.

Only in the 14th century did its name appear in a document (another source states that Horschbach's first documentary mention came in 1190[6]).

During the 13th century, great parts of the Imperially immediate domain were pledged to the counties at the edge of the Königsland (“King’s Land”).

The whole Pflegschaft, to which belonged all the villages of the Eßweiler Tal (dale), shared the Rhinegraviate's history for some 250 years.

A mediaeval castle complex below the Herrmannsberg's peak was utterly destroyed long ago and lies at a rather unreachable spot in the mountain's woods.

Horschbach, and also Niedereisenbach and Hachenbach (both nowadays outlying centres of Glanbrücken), along with Elzweiler remained with the Duchy until it was dissolved in the time of the French Revolution.

[8] During the French Revolution and Napoleonic times, Horschbach lay within the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German), whose seat was at Mainz, the Canton of Wolfstein and the Arrondissement of Kaiserslautern.

After French rule ended and Napoleon met his ultimate political fate at Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna awarded a great swathe of territory in this region to the Kingdom of Bavaria, and by 1817, Horschbach found itself within this exclave, called the Bayerischer Rheinkreis (“Bavarian Rhine District”).

More locally, it lay within the Landcommissariat (later Bezirksamt, later still Landkreis or district) of Kusel and the Canton of Wolfstein.

At elections between 1920 and 1933 – in Weimar times – the strongest showings were among centre-right and rightwing parties, a common pattern in places with a strongly developed agricultural structure.

By the time of the 1933 Reichstag elections, after Hitler had already seized power, local support for the Nazis had swollen to 92.5%.

Hitler’s success in these elections paved the way for his Enabling Act of 1933 (Ermächtigungsgesetz), thus starting the Third Reich in earnest.

Bavarian times ended with the Allied occupation after the Second World War and the region became part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In a turnaround from what was the pattern in Weimar times, left-leaning parties now do somewhat better in local elections, if not as strongly as in the other Herrmannsberg municipalities of Elzweiler and Welchweiler.

In 1973, Horschbach came in second at the district level in the contest Unser Dorf soll schöner werden (“Our village should become lovelier”), and the renovated church (new pews and heating) became ready for use.

Originally, most people earned their livelihoods at farming, though quite early on, some inhabitants began to specialize in crafts.

It must be borne in mind, however, that as a result of deaths due to constant epidemics, the population figures sometimes underwent great swings.

During the Thirty Years' War, the population once again shrank sharply, only to climb quickly in the early 18th century.

The trend continues with people still moving out of Horschbach, although on the other hand, their favourably priced empty houses and flats ensure that there are also newcomers.

There was another interpretation, now discounted by today's placename researchers, that held that it derived from the word Harun (“grove”; Modern High German, Hain).

[12] Yet another interpretation is found at Horschbach's own website, stating that the prefix derives from harges, a word for “sanctuary” or “place of worship”.

[13] Church history in the time of the Reformation was characterized by belonging to the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Glan chapter.

It has Classicist style elements, but interior features all its own, characterized by the use of simple wooden beams.

The mayors since the establishment of the Verbandsgemeinde have been as follows: The German blazon reads: In Schwarz ein rotgekrönter und bewehrter goldener Löwe, überdeckt von einem silbernen schräg linken Wellenbalken.

The lion is drawn from an old municipal seal, but also refer to the arms formerly borne by the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, while the wavy bend sinister is a canting charge for the last syllable in the village's name (Bach means “brook” in German).

The current arms were approved by the now abolished Regierungsbezirk authorities in Neustadt an der Weinstraße and have been borne since 18 July 1975.

[16][17] The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[18] The kermis (church consecration festival) is held on the third weekend in July.