How does natural horsemanship address a horse that pulls on the bit?

A horse that pulls on the bit or leans heavily into rein contact is demonstrating one of several possible underlying conditions — poor balance that causes the horse to use the rider's hand for support, a learned pattern of bracing against rein pressure that has been reinforced by riders who pulled back rather than released when the horse softened, or inadequate development of the horse's ability to carry itself with self-carriage. Natural horsemanship's diagnosis emphasizes understanding which of these underlying conditions is producing the behavior before applying corrections, because the approaches differ significantly depending on the cause. A horse that pulls for balance reasons needs development of its self-carriage through transitions, lateral exercises, and progressive development of collection rather than corrections focused on the head and mouth directly. A horse that has learned to brace against the rein because riders have maintained sustained backward pressure without releasing when the horse softens needs to learn through well-timed releases that softening the jaw and poll produces complete relief from rein contact — which requires the rider to release completely the instant the horse gives rather than maintaining contact. Tom Dorrance and Bill Dorrance both emphasized that pulling horses were almost always horses that had learned to brace in response to riders who pulled rather than horses that were inherently unresponsive in the mouth — the correction was in the quality of the rider's release rather than in more assertive rein management. Groundwork exercises that develop the horse's ability to soften its jaw and poll in response to halter pressure — the same concept applied through different equipment — often produce significant improvement in mounted contact issues because the foundational concept of yielding through the jaw and poll is addressed in a lower-demand context before the additional complexity of a rider's weight and balance is added.