M-T-G ... Magic?

Hope everyone had a great holiday, I know I did. Boyfriend's family came over Christmas Eve and we had tacos. My family came over that day too only earlier, and for a shorter while. But my brother flew in from Utah for the holidays and it has been great seeing him again. I let Boyfriend open one present early Christmas Eve but made him wait until the next day to open the rest.

Christmas morning we has breakfast with his family again, and opened presents from them at their house (and Boyfriend opened his Wii from me and has been playing it ever sense). Than we went to my Mother's and spent the afternoon and evening opening presents and enjoying her prime rib (which was absolutely delicious). Mother made us a beautiful quilt for our bed which looks just lovely, and Boyfriend said he is buying my truck a new engine. But since he couldnt wrap that under the tree, I was given an engine ornament. Now I cant wait for he and his brother (a diesel mechanic) to find the right engine and replace the one in my truck with over 215,000 miles.

But all throughout the holidays and festivities I was wishing I could do spend some time with Milo. Today (Monday) I finally was able to. Although I knew it was only for a short while, as I was due to spend some more time with my brother before he left again.

It was raining at the barn, and a number of people there. Milo amazed me by being at the farthest corner of the pasture with Jake, in the rain. But he met me just past the stalls and didnt make me walk the whole way down there (luckily, as you can see, the lake that was just there four days ago is gone).

Milo was feeling frisky as I led him up to the barn. And he was a bit impatient in the cross-ties; chewing on the leads and scooting side to side. After I threw his bareback pad on I knew I needed to longe him a bit before jumping aboard. Which was a good plan. He kicked and flipped his head on the line, but after only a few minutes decided it was out of his system and he would be a good boy.

The arena had a few fellow boarders riding, but Milo was still a bit unengaged. I worked him on our butterfly exercise from Sarah (basically small figure eight circles at the short end of the arena - using the corners of the arena to help round him up and bend). It took a while, but this exercise soon calmed Milo down and got him relaxed.

Then the arena cleared and some activity began down at C (the scary end - its where the poop pile is and two horses get turned out beyond that. Every horse at the barn has an issue with it at some point, if not longer. Last winter Milo really didnt like it but he has been fine working down there for months and months now). But today he just couldnt contain himself from hollowing out and flicking holding an ear there when we would pass. I made him walk in very straight lines, diagonally from one letter across the arena to the next. He finally calmed down again and lifted up walking in nice straight lines.

Once he finally felt totally content, I knew it was the place to stop. I know I probably could have moved on to some trot work, and mind you it was hard not to with the arena to myself again, but I didnt want to jeopardize the solidity I was getting from Milo and knew I would be out again to ride the next day.

Now, onto the title of this post. For about a week or two now Ive noticed that Milo has these rubbed patches on his sides - in the same spot I hold my leg at. Originally, there was just one on the right side, and it was small. I thought it could simply be a rubbed spot, or the beginings of a fungus, so I started applying M-T-G to it every time Im out there. Now, Ive noticed, that the spot is increasing in size, and right in the center appears to have totally rubbed the hair gone - not raw, just gone. And there is another one in the same spot on his left side, however only about half the size. So Ive been applying the M-T-G to both sides, but not seeing results.

Im most concerned if this is a reaction from my legs being there. If so, what could I do about it? I suppose the M-T-G wont hurt in helping the hair grow back, but in the meantime, is there something that I could do to prevent this from getting worse? It seems that if left to continue thats all I will do is get worse. But its puzzling that its just happening now when Ive been riding him bareback for months, and his clip has been done for over a month now too. Any thoughts on this?

This photo suggests that the area is swollen, it is not in fact. Im not sure why it looks that way.  

Im just confused. Could my pant leg be doing that? Or my boot top? About 50% of the time my pants are tucked into my boots, the other half, my jeans cover the top. Any enlightenment you may have, please share.