Not necessarily long-distance, but the idea of rails for horse-drawn wagons did pre-date the steam locomotive. Flanged rails were very common for wagons, not least it meant that at the end of the railroad, the wagon could be just dragged the rest of the way to the destination the old-fashioned way without having to cross-ship the cargo. This page has some good information on rail design in the horse-drawn days. http://gerald-massey.org.uk/Railway/c03_track.htm See also "Wagonways"

It depends on what you mean by long distance. By the end of the 18C there were many horse worked tramways in england which tended to be focussed on taking coal from mines to navigable waterways. They were particularly common in the north east where they were known as "newcastle roads", George Stephenson grew up with one that passed his front door. They were quite sophisticated systems with points and troughs filled with water to cool wheels after long descents ( some of these are currently being uncovered by archaeological digs on tyneside). These were generally plateways - that is the flange is on the track rather than the wheel, but railways with the flange on the wheel became more common in the early 19C as they enabled horses to haul heavier loads.