One way to practice on any weekend or late evenings. Get some of the traffic cones, soft trash cans, practice getting close to know the width and
length of your vehicle you are driving. If you have several cones/trash cans, you can set up a corse you can play with. One of the biggest things I
learned in my time with the Trail Teams. Was to pilot your vehicle with the rear wheels in mind. If you only think on the steering wheels up front,
and getting the front half around a object, then you will more than likely run a cone over in a course. Which in the real world, is crunching the rear quarter(or other body parts) on most Long wheel based wagons.
Learn your vehicle of choice with sitting in the seat(getting in a good driving position, throttle leg heal planted, and lower leg braced that way you can control the throttle with precise movement at the ankle, and not stab the throttle), and looking forward, using your side rear view mirrors to see your rear tires< yup move the mirror more down and in to see the sides of your vehicle. Learn your wheel base. One way is to set up objects to run over slowly, that way it helps
you to anticipate the rear wheel and it location. Go slow in neighbor hoods with speed bumps, and learn when the front goes up/down, and the rear goes up/down.
When you are wheeling, treat your vehicle as a piece of equipment(Mind set way different than a trip to the mall), It is a trick to help keep you mind on the trail ahead. Learn to shuffle steer, always keep hands on the wheel.
I have damaged my truck more when my mind was wondering or answering my kids questions as I was traveling down the trail. Taking my eyes off the trail will typically misplace my anticipation of the trail a head. Time in the seat can come in many forms if you are creative.
So real world, my wife just got a new car for the new period of time. We have had it for about 5-6 weeks to date. It has all seasons on it, all wheel drive. She was scared to drive it the first snow storm we had. So, We went driving around for about an hr. Thru neighbor hoods and some parking lots. It helped her build confidence in the car in the snow. We even spent time in a school parking lot that had lots of fresh new snow.
We learned some of the length and widths by parking it near a curb, both parallel parking, and backing up and front in. All practical things to
learn on a new ride. This new ride is more a road cruiser, not the 4 runner she has had for 13 years.
Anyhow, some thoughts to think about.