Pulling tails

[_daisy_]

Can anyone give me any tips on pulling tails? It has been recommended that I pull my horses tail, at the mo it is full and she always has it plaited for shows.
I have a tail rake but dont know whether this will give me the desired effect as pulling it properly.
Ive got just 1 week to get my horses tail right for the show and i want it to look right.

Anyone got any tips for me? how to start etc? ive always had full tails and plaited them. any pictures would be great too.

 

[hellybelly6]

Personally, I prefer plaited tails.

If you only have a week before the show, get a tail rake. I do not think it is fair on the horse to pull a tail from scratch in a week. That way, you can finish of with a bit of a pull for that pulled look and it will be more comfortable for your horse too. The dock is very very sensitive and is very close to fast moving hooves remember, be careful.

 

[stencilface]

I prefer plaiting. mainly cos I can do them (well, kind of!) and I'm too lazy to maintain a pulled tail, plus as the horse is out all the time in the summer, and days in the winter I thinks its fairer to leave it full.

 

[dianchi]

I have a tb so full tail just looks scruffy when its not plaited. Personally i pull with a comb and then get the wispy bits with lil pliars.

 

[neigh]

If you use the rake to start off with, this will do the majority of the work for you. You can always finish off by pulling by hand to get a really neat finish...or if you've got a fine tail rake this will give a a neat finish anyway.
You can always do a little bit each day and then tail bandage afterwards. That way you wont end up doing too much in one go. Make sure you only use the rake down the sides of the tail otherwise the middle will end up spikey!

 

[CBAnglo]

Tail rakes are wonderful - use it on the sides and underneath if you need to thin it out a bit. Then pull the top bits.

Just be careful if you have a fine blade - they are really sharp to begin with. And do a few strokes from each side to make sure it is even then apply tail bandage etc afterwards.