Curious about the different methods here.
I would teach them to stretch to the bit. I might also switch to a side pull for a while.
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Thanks for answering 
How would you teach them to stretch vs. a horse without btb tendencies? With a horse that dips their nose back whenever they feel contact.
The main thing is to ensure the contact is not dropped when the horse ducks behind the contact. The rider must absolutely maintain the contact in the same weight so the horse does not get rewarded for dropping the contact.
Add leg instantly and go forward, and you can also raise your chest and your hands slightly and when the horse reaches out then you can give a release. Make sure you really use your position to help.
Will the horse stretch out low with their nose out on a long rein at all with contact? You can start there and slowly bring them up, when they drop the contact stretch out again long and out. Then slowly bring them up again.
Lots of work changing frame length will help too.
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First: I am far from an expert in this issue. Just another ammy and the struggle is real. 
This is just my experience with the problematic side of dealing with this.
In my experience a b-t-b horse tends to be an energetic horse. They drop behind the bit because they donāt want the rider telling them āslow down fer godssake, I said slow down goddammit, slow down slow down slow downā.
If you lengthen the reins, they curl and speed up, or stiff-neck poke their nose out and really really speed up. If you try to cush them into it with give-and-take motion of the reins, they pull, stiffen, resist, argue ā and speed up. Which can unnerve some riders.
Just my amateur not-a-pro-trainer experience ā a lot of the answer is in the riderās seat. These horses are anxious and they make riders anxious, too. Riders start to clinch with the knees and seat and that sets off a nervy horse. Rider may not even realize it.
Also, the horse may tend to accelerate and decelerate, and every time they decelerate even a smidge the rider tips forward. And loses the correct balance and forward progression, the horse is no longer in front of them. The horse may not do this intentionally ā¦ but they may learn to do it intentionally.
Think first about your seat. Must be relaxed in the lower back and seatbones and thigh, must not clinch with knees even a little. Leg not creeping up defensively. No curling up ā¦ the bodyās instinctive reaction to save itself.
Often just taking the knees off the saddle and lowering the heels and lifting the upper body and chin settles things down without doing anything else.
Anyway. Pros may not do these counter-productive things and have no idea what Iām talking about ā¦ but in my very-ammy experience constantly checking my own position and seat is very, very helpful.
But maybe this isnāt the scenario youāre facing.
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Well IMO a horse which curls is sensitive and lost confidence into aids from the rider. A horse which seeks connection doesnāt curl. A horse will seek contact as soon as it follows the riders aids coming from the seat to engage his hind legsā¦
so if a horse curls, simply put your hands in front of you and try not pull at all. You donāt do anything even if you loose contact in the reins. At the same time place your inner leg on or a little behind the girth and establish a contact there in order to engage the inner leg. I would also do circles. And then you trot and use your inner leg. The outer leg simply stays behind the girth and prevents the horse to evade to the outsideā¦
You stay on the circle keep your hands absolutely quiet and try to engage your horses inner leg to get the horse in front of your legā¦. And then you observe what happens. You could also go a little more forward on the open side and slow down towards the wall againā¦. All you do is to engage the horse in an active forward moving trotā¦. and my experience is that even horses which tend to run are slowing down and listen as soon as they accept the legsā¦. absolutely important is that you donāt pull!!! And you probably still pull even if you think you donātā¦. Maybe find somebody on the ground who will watch you and tell you as soon as it looks like you are pulling. If the inner hand is behind the outer hand you pull.
Well if you will do this consistently for a while you will suddenly feel that the horse seeks contact in the front. And you need to do anything not to destroy the trust againā¦. Your contact needs to be a lot softer than you think it should beā¦
For a long time I had problems with my younger horse because I pulled. She is a very active forward horse and also sensitive. My problem was that she got very short in the neck came behind the contact and either lost the canter or took offā¦. I found a new trainer who simply told me to move my hands forward, keep them quiet, ride a circle around her and use my inner leg to get her into the right rhythm. The result was pretty amazingā¦.
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I have had to deal with this on two young horses this winter, one was western broke then sent to a trainer who didnāt use leg to seat to hands. I did a lot of leg yield (the horse grabbed left rein and didnāt take right at all) I took contact and used the leg to get the nose back out. I did only slight flexions to the inside. She was 6, I am happy to say she started accepting contact after a couple of months and we were able to get back to transitions etc. to strengthen the hind leg.
The second one was 4 and western broke and he was easier because he was younger. I used the same method without the leg yield and when he head flipped took more inside flexion.
So there are a couple of different ways depending on horse top deal with this.
I have had ones that naturally curl and thatās a whole nother post!
Awesome! Thatās what I have been doing.
This has been my experience too. Well the difference between btb and behind the vertical. The latter being a horse that has avoided going forward and engaging the hind end.
My own horse had a pretty severe case of btb due to clinton anderson training (I didnāt know any better back then!). I didnāt have a case of runaway horse, but even though I had worked with a number of higher level dressage instructors and my horse could do up to second level movements, the btb tendencies always showed up when my horse became frustrated or just plain done. It did not feel like an āeasyā ride either. Much of it was rooted in tension and mistrust in the bit (not that I was harsh in the hands, but the teachings I had to fix it at the time were bandaid fixes). I finally figured out how to fix it after several years and it took maybe 4 months of very gradual re-training and allowing the horse to put the head up (simultaneous conditioning schedule via hill work and poles). Horse already responded to seat, but seat became even more a priority post-retraining. After result was like riding a dream compared to the before.
I do agree and do something similar myself. When the horse sucks back, I kind of go up (to readjust the throatlatch) and out, then ask with leg and ātapā if they donāt immediately engage. Depending on how persistent the issue is, I may add in some exercises that kind of help push the horse to engage. Then, praise when I feel the horse grab the bit and reach forward. Though, my approach differs a ittle based on the horse and where I find the btb issue is rooted from.
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I have noticed it become a pattern in western broke horses too. I believe it to come from Clinton Anderson style influences, honestly, as I trained with a CA influenced trainer early on and so have some insight into how hand heavy this method can be. This is where my own horse got it from and it was much more difficult to untrain from him because he did CA style training for almost 3 years before I was able to get out of it. Iām not a western rider so I donāt know how the overall discipline trends. I do know there are methods that are more āclassicalā and focused on moving the horse back to front, but it seems I do not see those methods used as frequently?
I have a trainer who really knows how to fix such problems thank god! Also the western people want the horse to back of the bit, we want them to accept the contact!
Thatās a blessing! In my opinion, It is not an easy thing to fix once it is set in because a retraining approach takes just as much psychology, as it does functional riding to correct the habit.
Yes, I notice that it is certainly a different type of contact than we seek in dressage.
Stretch should be your first step, so I would step back from worrying about that and work on getting your horse to stretch down into the contact. You should be able to ride long and low and get the nose poked out still aiming to work over the back until you can ride into a working type frame.
Are you familiar with how to supple and release and teach your horse to stretch out towards the bit?
Just keep at it and be patient it takes time strength and balance in both the horse and us to work through this.
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Iāve found that walking forward on a loose rein with minimal contact will allow the horse to relax and reach down on his own. A neck scratch every time he does stretch down tells him that is what was wanted, at the same time walk strongly forward from your seat and alternating legs. If he breaks into a trot, donāt grab rein, just sit,donāt follow until walk is reestablished
Remember contact is sometimes no more tha wiggling a finger, or holding lightly, with following elbows. It is never backward.
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I keep the contact the same, so if their head goes back my hand goes back with it. Add leg and when they offer to stretch their head, then I soften and encourage them to go there.
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Thatās what we are working with next. I should specify this is a green horse, so I was most concerned with rhythm and control first. Because the horse originally thought bit contact=nose in, I was just focused on getting her to take the bit forward first and letting her know she CAN have her head if she needs it right now.
Yup! I love my long and low 
My own horse (retired now) used to do wtc long and low frequently. I just wanted to be very careful with asking for this too soon on this horse because I want it to be a natural progression and have the horse enjoy seeking contact themselves.
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Iād first look at the bit. My current young horse had a variety of contact issues and some teeth issues. I wound up putting him in a soft rubber mullen mouth snaffle. Heās not hard in the mouth at all but would lean due to lack of balance. But leaning and taking the contact are not the same. A regular snaffle was too much. He is getting better about seeking the bit and staying quiet in the mouth with the current setup. Others may have different preferences for stability or motion, thickness, pressure on tongue or bars, etc. Is the bit a reason for the evasion? Step one is addressing that.
Then personally, Iād go back to baby, baby horse stuff. Ducking behind is a sign of tension, so itās back to relaxation focus. The horse needs to follow his nose, and so this might require some total loose rein riding and then opening inside rein steering to connect the front feet to the rein first. And you can also start with such steering doing things like the left right exercise to get the horse to shift his own weight some to the hind leg without the reins. Then reintroduce the contact bit by bit, with breaks to stretch and/or relax.
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I think Iād agree to going with a soft (literally) bit, like a Nathe or HS Duo soft plastic bit (not a Happy Mouth, and personally I wouldnāt go with a black rubber bit eitherāthey tend to be somewhat drying in the mouth).
My sense (and Iāll add that I am a perpetual ammy) is that behind the bit is often a result of the horse not fully trusting the riderās hands. So using a really soft bit and then tactful aids for forward can be a good combination.
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I would move the shoulder over so they rock back and sit in their butt every time they go btv if its because the balance is too much on the forehand. I wouldnt worry about contact, just shifting those shoulders so they sit back without being in their face.
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