In 1947, his family was moved to Ukraine, and they settled in the village of Letyache (Ternopil Oblast).

On 24 November 1970, Horbal was arrested by the KGB and charged with Anti Soviet Agitation and Propaganda.

[1] On release from prison and return to Ukraine, Horbal settled in Kyiv, where he joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group which had formed in 1976.

[2] He tried to regain his seat in the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a candidate of the Republican Christian Party, but failed to do so.

His first collection was entitled "Details of a Noisy Alarmclock" (Ukrainian: Деталі Піщаного Годинника, romanized: Detali Pishchanoho Hodynnyka), and the second publication was of poetry for children, a collection entitled "A Song for Little Andrew" (Ukrainian: Коломийка Для Андрійка, romanized: Kolomyika Dlia Andriyka).