I was once in a situation like this. I had a friend that wanted to get back into horses (we rode and showed together thru our childhood) and I knew of a horse that was being given away for free so I hooked her up with this horse and kept it at my place for free. I was paying for everything, feed, bedding etc. I also cleaned his stall everyday, turned him out, took care of this guy like he was one of mine. All I wanted was for her to come out and see her horse and start enjoying him. She hardly came out, maybe once or twice a month. It really started to irritate me that I was paying for this horse, taking care of it and she couldn't even come out to say thanks. I didn't want to ruin our friendship so I started asking her if he was too much for her at this time, did she still want him etc. It came time to geld this guy and she decided she didn't have the money so it was an easy way out and she gave the horse back to the original owners. It ended up fine and we're still friends but I will never offer to keep a horse for free again!