He made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire in June 1913 against Yorkshire, when he took 2 wickets in the first innings, but never had the chance to bat.
In 1914 Horsley switched to his native county Derbyshire and played a full pre-war season.
Horsley was able to capitalise on the absence in the match of Billy Bestwick who had returned to bowl for Derbyshire that season.
Horsley was a right-arm fast-medium bowler and took 287 wickets at an average of 20.26 and a best performance of 7–48 with nineteen 5-wicket innings and three 10-wicket matches.
He was a right-hand batsman and played 132 innings in 87 first-class matches with an average of 13.67 and a top score of 66.