"[6] While in college, he was successful doing commissions of favorite animals of wealthy polo pony owners earning several thousand dollars for many.

[7][14] The Orlando Evening Star quoted Matzen as saying, "Wheeler will be greater than Remington as an interpreter of wild things and fine animals.

"[7] One of his early pieces, "The Hard Pull," depicted a cowboy throwing his weight on the off-stirrup, helping his horse keep its feet while dragging a steer out of a bog.

[7] This significant valuation of his early pieces demonstrated the immediate recognition of Wheeler's exceptional talent and the commercial appeal of his naturalistic style.

The Time magazine article of January 10, 1927, which reported on Wheeler's rapid rise to prominence, noted that "Fame impended" for the young artist from Florida.

[3] By April 1932, he was featured on the front page of The Los Angeles Times and called by the paper, "Cowboy Sculptor Master of His Craft.

"[4] This early recognition set the stage for Wheeler's long career as one of America's preeminent sculptors of Western and equestrian subjects.

Time magazine reported that for two months, Clevelanders had been admiring his small white plaster sculptures of horses and men, which experts declared were superior to anything of their kind ever before produced in the United States.

[3][7][17] Will James, a respected cowboy artist and writer from Great Falls, Montana, gave Wheeler's work a resounding endorsement.

In one notable instance, George M. Humphrey, who served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1953 to 1957, commissioned Wheeler to create a model of his favorite hunter in the early 1930s.

Upon comparing the sculpture to the actual horse, Humphrey had to admit that Wheeler had faithfully duplicated his hunter in every respect, including the slight unsoundness in the forelegs.

His niece, Mary Ida Shearhart said of him, “He used to say it took two people to do a piece of art: one to do it, and the other to shoot him before he ruined it.”[5] In terms of technique, Wheeler primarily used the lost-wax process for casting his bronzes.

[19] This method, in which a wax model is created, encased in a mold, and then melted out to be replaced by molten bronze, allowed for the fine, accurate details that Wheeler was particularly concerned with capturing.

[19] He also once told the Los Angeles Times that polo, because of its exciting moments of action for both horse and rider was a subject that interested him greatly.

It also demonstrates how his work could bridge the gap between fine art and specialist knowledge of horsemanship, however, Wheeler was clear about his intended audience.

"[19] His work was exhibited at several prestigious venues, including: His works can be found in notable collections including Will Rogers State Park (Santa Monica), Will Rogers Memorial Museum (Claremore, OK), Santa Anita Park (Seabiscuit statue and George Woolf statue), National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Ridgewood Ranch, the permanent collection at the Fort Christmas Historical Park, and at Pebble Hill Plantation in the Elisabeth Ireland Gallery.

Kittredge Collins, the great-grandson of Charles S. Howard, recognized the need to preserve its integrity and donated it to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.

[37] In 2007, Chris and Anita Lowe, England-based benefactors of the Seabiscuit Heritage Foundation, funded a project to create a replica of the piece.

"[41] The presence of both the Seabiscuit and George Woolf statues at Santa Anita Park creates a lasting tribute to the golden age of horse racing, preserved through Wheeler's skilled hands.

Larger polychrome plasters of the sketch model were made circa 1941 while staying at the home of Betty and Will Rogers, in Pacific Palisades.

The other of these plasters (1941 written on the base), was painted by renowned California painter, and friend of Wheeler, Victor Clyde Forsythe, and is kept in the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma.

This 1/8 size bronze can also be seen in a 1943 short film, a Will Rogers Memorial Hospital appeal, starring Judy Garland, in which she sings "If I Forget You" by Irving Caesar.

[47] A significant chapter in Wheeler's artistic life unfolded in Alhambra, California, where he became part of a remarkable but lesser-known art colony.

[48] Wheeler was part of a group dubbed "The Eight of Alhambra," which included Norman Rockwell, Frank Tenney Johnson, Jack Wilkinson Smith, Eli Harvey, Victor Clythe Forsythe, Sam Hyde Harris, and Marjorie Reed.

Johnson, considered the Western master and heir to the cowboy throne after Charles Marion Russell and Frederick Remington, had moved to Champion Place in 1926.

[45][48] It is also reported that movie stars such as Tom Mix, Gloria Swanson, and Will Rogers, who was a friend of several of the artists, visited the colony.

[19][13][25][51][52] He maintained a studio on the X9 / Casa Blanca ranch of J. Rukin Jelks, and was also close friends with Melville H. Haskell, both key figures in popularizing the sport of Quarter Horse racing.

Wheeler also did an illustration of a cowboy on a horse facing a sign that says "Casa Blanca" and gave it to Rukin and Mary Jelks as a gift.

[38] Western artists Ed Borein, Charles Marion Russell, Pete Martinez, and Victor Clyde Forsythe who was also one of "The Eight of Alhambra"[48] were also visitors at Jelk's ranch.

[8][54][13][2][28] Wheeler came from a family of three children, including an older brother, John Rex (1899–1900), who died in infancy, and a younger sister, Coralie (1903–1978).