The Horror [Critique me]

NOTE: THIS IS MY VERY FIRST TIME BARREL RACING THIS HORSE SO IT IS NOT PRETTY WHAT SO EVER.

Feel free to critique me. Tear me down, put me up, I don't care. I've heard worst most likely. XD

I already know I was not giving him not enough pocket for a horse his size and I was also in his mouth too much so don't both with those details.
I am used to small horses that I have to ride right into the barrel then sit and turn. Him, I have to set up really early and give him a HUGE pocket.

[I apologize for the dust]

I uh.... I could have done worse.

It was a lot of him just saying "Woman, let me work" and of course you already stated the biggest problems..Not much else to add, you know what you did wrong and can fix it...It did seem like the bigger pocket you set him up for, the worse the turn was..Your first barrel was the best because you weren't so much in his mouth, you ran him to and the right length past the barrel without checking as much as the other barrels and your pocket wasn't huge...Any reason you didn't drop your hands? You also leaned pretty far towards the barrel when turning and that can throw off his balance..

Oh! Oh! Me! *raises hand*

I lean to the inside too much too....When I still had Bailey her owner yelled at me to throw ALL my weight into my outside stirrup. I don't think I've ever made better turns since I've started doing that.

But now I gotta ask Drum, have you done/heard of doing that? My main trainer is all about "centering", but I think I'm an outside-stirrup believer now.

Yep, I'm an outside stirrup believer..It does make a big difference when it comes to balancing out you and your horse. Like keep your butt centered but your body and weight leaning away from the barrel. If you lean in the horse is going to try to stay under you.. It's kinda of like driving a four wheeler or something, when you turn you lean the opposite way to balance the four wheeler.. If you lean in while turning you'll put all of the weight on the inside and can cause the four wheeler and yourself to flip over..It could be the same with horses, this is why a good bit of people that lean to the barrel fall off..

Like so, I have my hand dropped to plant myself, the other hand could be better but it's not awful..My body is leaning out but my butt is centered, and my weight is in my outside stirrup..

Well, I never usually lean. I keep pretty straight in my saddle, like in my avatar.