WMW --
it's a butterfly. Skippers are a type of butterflies that look a lot like moths because of their sturdy bodies. Some of them hold their wings open, some hold them closed. There are hundreds of different species (thousands worldwide) and some are really hard to ID because many of them look so similar to another.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipper_(butterfly)
They're typically small or smaller, stout, and brown...LOL
I have only encountered a handful of butterfly species that I have NOT been able to shoot with their wings open

The yellows and sulphurs seem to be the hardest (for me!) to get with their wings open!
Personally I find Hummingbirds and butterflies easy to shoot. With Hummers, you have to pick your spot and stay there, and let them come to you. After they get used to the shooting sound, they won't even flinch.
Butterflies need to be slowly stalked if you have a lot of space where they roam (like my garden, they have hundreds of flowers to pick from, and they do roam...LOL). Sure, some species are more flighty than others, and even some individual butterflies are flightier than others in an otherwise "docile" species, but you can generally tell pretty quick if it's worth stalking them or not.
Flight -- make sure you only have set it to one single focus point and not several, and like others said, pre-focus on the obstacle, or where the horse is going to be.
RTR -- thanks for the new angles, that's definitely a Long-tailed Skipper - that iridescent blue-green gives it away
Poor thing has had a hard life, and the wings are torn up, that's why I didn't see the long tail at first!
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/spec ... us-proteusBTW, there is no such thing as going overboard with shooting butterflies

I have some 700 butterflies on Shutterstock alone, and the amount on my hard drive that will never see the daylight, is multiplied in tens - how many - I couldn't tell you, LOL!
Nowadays my criteria is A) to get a better shot than the old one of a species or B) shoot a species I don't have already. The latter is hard, very hard, as I basically only shoot in my yard, and my species count is 50+

I don't think the other ones will readily show up....
Back when I started shooting stock I had NO clue what I would be shooting, I was grasping for straws. It was early summer, and then the butterflies showed up! I love shooting them, and I love learning about each new species I shoot. I don't claim to be an expert on any level, but in these six years I have grown to absolutely love them, and I guess I could say I'm half-way obsessed by them

They're awesome
