Countless horse stories provide examples of young riders leaving civilization behind for shorter or longer periods of time, when going for rides in rural settings. But sometimes these journeys back to nature serve a more profound purpose. This paper explores how horse stories represent horseback riding from a human perspective, and its relation to nature. Thereby, it´s positioned in the ecocritical field with its exploration of how we portray the relationship between humans and nature, and where the pastoral trope is a key concern (Garrard 2012). Along with ecocritical theories concerning realism and fantasy (Israelson 2017), the pastoral tradition (Gifford 2020; Natov 2011) is used as an analytic tool with its three parts: its idealization of nature; its inbuilt polarization of nature-urbanity; and its power as a tool for negotiating human relationships and for finding one´s inner nature. These are explored in a comparison between Swedish horse stories placed in a realistic versus fantasy setting, where it´s argued that the roles of nature in such stories differ. Lin Hallberg´s realistic Vem är du Johanna? and Adzerk – den vita hingsten, where the moves of the young female riders to remote countries provide an opportunity to revalue life, exemplify how nature provides the prerequisites for positive changes. In comparison, Helena Dahlgren´s horse fantasy series Ödesryttarna, depicts nature more profoundly as an actor in opposition to the evil civilization. So, what tentions are created by these different roles of nature in realistic and fantasy horse story settings, and how are these portrayed?