When the footing is too frozen and too muddy, and the weather is wet and cold and blowy, working on improving yourself from inside the house seems like an excellent plan. There’s no better way to practice keeping a steady connection while quickly adjusting reins or using the whip than with a reinboard! The weights give instant feedback if you accidentally drop the contact or overcorrect.

(After finding reinboards for sale for well over $100, we made this one ourselves for just $20 with a couple of 2x4s, a set of sawhorse brackets, two pulleys and two screw hooks, a few feet of cotton rope, some spare reins, and a pair of old shoes for weights!)