Because of restrictive Australian quarantine laws, the IOC gave permission to hold the 1956 equestrian events in Sweden five months before the Melbourne Olympics. The Horse in the Forefront is a tidy 16-minute short that covers the horseback torch relay from Malmö to the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, where, as the narrator points out, for the only time in Olympic history, the cauldron is lit by a rider on horseback. Attention is given to the presence of the royal families of Great Britain and Sweden. The three equestrian disciplines are shown, with more time, not surprisingly, devoted to the three-day event, complete with the obligatory spills. Throughout, the competitors are forced to slog through rainy and muddy conditions.
