When I was a kid everyone knew what to do with a horse that was difficult to control. You simply got a more severe bit. As the horse aged the matter even got worse. The next step was to never "give a horse his head." Eventually you had a horse with such a "hard mouth" that it could only be ridden by someone strong enough to inflict real pain on the horse to make it stop.
That really is how people thought a horse needed to be handled. That is how little horses were understood in the era prior to natural horsemanship being more widely understood.
Unfortunately, too many people still ride that way. A horse that is difficult to control is a horse that has not been taught pressure and release with absolute perfect consistency.
The horse that can't be controlled needs to start over with a weaker restraint--a rope halter with the trainer on the ground, not in the saddle. The rope halter allows the horse to feel the slightest pressure, but more importantly, allows the horse to feel the slightest release of pressure.
Key point--as soon as the horse begins to consider the possibility of perhaps yielding to the pressure the pressure must be instantly released every single time-every single time-every single time-100% of the time--instantly.
If the horse fails to follow through on yielding the trainer must instantly renew the pressure every single time--every single time--every single time--100% of the time--instantly.
Consistently-every single time--that is how a horse learns best and the horse has a right to expect perfect consistency out of you even if you have had a bad day.
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