Hi - I am a bit of a novice when it comes to pulling tails too as I have always had full tails and plaited in the past - but I have just bought one of those new combs (sort of hooked bades originally for matts in dogs I think) at a cost of £14.50 and it is worth every penny. Within minutes I had a perfectly pulled tailed that looked really professional. I am now very proud of my tail - can't stand clipped tails or ones pulled really short all the way round!
These combs are really amazing - my daughters horse has a very thick Welsh mane and hates having it pulled. Just pulling the mane over the wrong side and combing from the base out thinned it out beautifully in no time and she really enjoyed it and stood stock still completely relaxed. Of course it doesn't shorten the mane - thats were the Solo comb comes in!