The Bible shows that the four horsemen are just another way of describing the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation.
SAY WHAT?
The 3 1/2 year GT is the time the wild beast is said to have his said 42-month authority, which time the holy city is trampled.
The events of the horsemen are what match the events of the 'pangs of distress' and they lead to the why/how the beast will be given his said authority by the 10 kings.
[And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.]
[It was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for 42 months.] [It was permitted to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.] [If anyone is meant for captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone will kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. This is where it calls for endurance and faith on the part of the holy ones.] [And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.] [But as for the courtyard that is outside the temple sanctuary, leave it out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for 42 months.] [Between the porch and the altar Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep and say:âDo feel pity, O Jehovah, for your people; Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, Letting the nations rule over them. Why should the peoples say, âWhere is their God?ââ]