Bruce Bandy, Barellan, Steve Johnson, Lake Cargelligo, and Aleks Berzins, Exeter, will combine their Clydesdale, Australian Draught and Suffolk Punch horses to create a mega team of more than 50 horses pulling an historic Bennett wagon loaded with wool bales.
Additional horses will come from Barellan Working Clydesdales committee member Allison Prentice, Kamarah, while Shane Carroll will work the brake.
Harnessing the giant team is expected to take over two hours at the Barellan Showgrounds with the horses harnessed in sections of four, before being all hitched together as 13 spans of four abreast and two in the shafts.
The Guiness Book of Records hitch was set with a 50-horse team in Canada on August 13, 1995, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Navan Fair and took 13 Clydesdale horse owners and hundreds of volunteers.
The Australian record hitch of 48 horses was set in in the mid 1980s at Carrara, Gold Coast, on Australia Day by Don Ross and Bluey Bunyan with a team comprising 12 spans of four abreast and two back in the shafts.
The world record hitch at Barellan is part of The Good Old Days Festival on October 3-5, an event which has grown into a three-day event this year and celebrates our pioneering heritage and this year is proudly sponsored by Bendigo Bank Narrandera & District.
Headlining on the stage on Friday, October 3 will be one of the nation’s biggest country music stars, James Blundell, supported by the Outback Stockman, Lachie Cosser, Longreach.
The Good Old Days Festival set its own record in 2024 with 35 horses in harness.
Barellan Working Clydesdales president Bruce Bandy said to harness more than 50 horses would take more than two hours and be a spectacle in itself.
Another highlight this year will be the retyring of four wagon wheels by Australia’s leading teamsters under the direction of master harness maker and teamster, Tim Peel, of Borambola, NSW.
Barellan Working Clydesdales secretary Fiona Kibble said the festival had undergone rapid organic growth to the new three-day format with thousands of visitors travelling from around Australia and internationally to attend.
Ms Kibble said the committee was pleased to welcome the Bendigo Bank Narrandera & District as the major event sponsor for 2025.
“It is exciting times for not only the committee but for also Barellan and the Narrandera Shire to have such a unique, pioneering event – the only one of its kind in the world where visitors can see horses, camels, bullocks, donkeys, mules and goats all working in harness on-site,” she said.
All online ticketing is via barellanclydesdales.com.au
Ends
Caption: Australia’s most experienced teamsters will attempt to break the world record of 50 horses in harness at the 2025 Good Old Days Festival in October. Image Kim Woods
NFP: For media comment contact Fiona Kibble on 0409 363 682
