[4] She returned to New Zealand due to World War II and trained as a physical therapist.
[4] She continued her interest in sketching and painting, taking lessons from Colin McCahon and through summer schools.
She was influenced heavily by the work of the abstract expressionists,[4] especially artists whose work she was exposed to while in New York, including Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell,[5] and Helen Frankenthaler.
[4] In the 1996 New Year Honours, Horsley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to art.
[14] During her time in England, Horsley exhibited alongside fellow expatriates Ralph Hotere, Bill Culbert, and Ted Bulmore.