El Club de Rodeo

One of my friends in Costa Rica in the "Club de Rodeo" Would a

length-wise cropping be better in this case?

This is a very good action shot. He looks like he's having fun.

I think you want to keep more on the left than on the right but you could crop just to the left of the rope on the ground. Try that and see if you like it.

here's a recropping of the original photo. In order to achieve this verticle "crop" I had to clone in more dry grass below the calf and more fencing above the student from another photo I had taken. How successful was I?