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He modeled a puncher throwing his weight on the off stirrup, helping his horse keep his feet during "The Hard Pull." In the anxious faces of horse and man, in the wrenched positions of girth and pommel, a steer they had roped and were dragging out of a bog became almost visible. The proportions and positions of Student Wheeler's first three models were indeed too natural for one teacher, who declared they had no "art" in them. But even this criticism died away when Sculptor Wheeler returned from a visit to the Messrs. Korner & Wood with a quotation of $625 apiece on his first works. The acclaim of experts followed. Fame impended.