One of four children of George P. Horse Capture became interested in history while accompanying his father to the Plains Indian Museum in Wyoming, where George P. Horse Capture was curator. Joseph D. Horse Capture majored in History with a minor in Art History at Montana State University, Bozeman. In 1992, Horse Capture was invited to help mount the exhibition "Visions of the People: A Pictorial History of Plains Indian Life" at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where he interned for three years. He has taught classes, given lectures, and contributed to many publications, including Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian. Beauty, Honor, and Tradition: The Legacy of Plains Indian Shirts is the second collaboration between Joseph D. Horse Capture and his father. They first worked together on Warrior Artists: Historic Cheyenne and Kiowa Indian Ledger Art. A second generation museum professional, Horse Capture has served as a curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1997-2013) and the National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian Institution (2013-2016). He was recently the director of Native American Initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society where he led a team who facilitated relationships with regional Native American communities. Since 2019 he is the Vice President of Native Collections and the Ahmanson Curator of Native American History and Culture at the Autry Museum of the West. Joe Horse Capture has been in the museum field for over two decades and is widely published in the area of Native American art with a specialization in Plains Indian culture.