Songfacts®:

• In this Western-themed track from his second album, Garth Brooks takes on the persona of a rodeo cowboy who can't choose between his love for his lady and the wild horses who keep dragging him away from her. Brooks praised the song in his 2017 book, The Anthology Part 1: The First Five Years: "I've always loved it when a song takes you to a really specific place. 'From a phone booth in Cheyenne.' Boom, that's where you're at. 'I made a promise to Diane.' It's real specific but, at the same time, s--t, we've all been there."
• This was written by Bill Shore and David Wills. Shore is a Texas-born songwriter who wrote Charley Pride's "Ev'ry Heart Should Have One" and George Strait's "I'd Like To Have That One Back." Wills is a country singer who notched two #1 hits in 1975 ("There's A Song On The Jukebox," "From Barrooms To Bedrooms") and wrote George Strait's "If You're Thinking You Want A Stranger (There's One Coming Home)."
• Brooks also sang about a rodeo cowboy on his debut single, "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)."
• Along with some other tracks on the album, this features harmony and backing vocals from an up-and-coming country singer named Trisha Yearwood. She and Brooks became friends and he put her on the radar of some prominent Nashville producers which led to her signing a contract with MCA Records. In 1991, the same year she released her debut hit single, "She's In Love With the Boy," Yearwood was the opening act on Brooks' nationwide tour. They were longtime friends and musical partners until things turned romantic in 2001; they married in 2005.
• Producer Allen Reynolds paired Brooks and Yearwood together on the track. Yearwood recalled the experience in The Anthology Part 1: "Allen loved what he called the 'buzz' between our voices. 'Wild Horses' was a challenge for me. This was George Strait for Garth, new for me. This was also a harmony Garth could have sung himself. He and I can sound so much alike that sometimes I can't tell if it's him or me singing certain lines. I think that is a true sign of how well our voices blend."
• Brooks released a new version with re-recorded vocals as a single in 2000. It peaked at #7 on the Country chart.
• No Fences introduced some of Brooks' signature tunes, such as "The Thunder Rolls" and "Friends In Low Places." It remains his best-selling album, with more than 18 million copies sold in the US as of February 2020.