Cropping and Space

Bambi, originally uploaded by kikaytete.

I don't know whether this shot was cropped or not, but I suspect it was. The shot of the deer is lovely.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and one of the points a number of the authors make is that one should leave some space on the side in which the animal is facing/moving.

While this might seem counter to my comments about the (water buffalo?), that one was a static image, with the animal lying on the ground. This one is a shot of movement/motion/stillness between.

I think that it might have been more effective with some space on the left, creating that sense of anticipation and movement.

What do you think?