First off, how old are you, what are your PRs, what do you expect to run in the IH, what leg is your dominant, can you switch leads during the race.. stuff like that?
to cover your question about the first hurdle, that has happened to me before as well. What I found that worked was, if you're in the inside lanes, run toward the outside part of the lane. If you're a right leg lead, that'll be good anyway, because it will give you more clearance room for your trail leg.
That 6th hurdle gives a lot of people problems, especially people new to the event. Really, you need to determine a step pattern and stick to it, regardless of how good you're feeling during the race. For example, if you decide that you're going to run 15 steps thru the first 5 hurdles and then switch to 17 for the 6th on it, do it that way, no matter what. Practice that step pattern in practice as much as you can. I'm not saying you can't change the pattern if you're feeling like you need to, but make changes in practice, not at a meet.