“I need to get away from all of this craziness for a while.”

Dramatically lower your Stress Levels and Significantly Reduce Your Anxiety: A Nervous System Rest in Nature with a small heard of Friesian and Falabella horses hosted by dr. Margaretha Montagu

Sometimes the day is perfectly manageable. You go about your business, do the things responsible adults do, and generally keep life moving along in a sensible manner. And then, somewhere around three in the morning, your brain decides it would be an excellent time to hold an emergency meeting about the state of the world. You lie there in the dark, wondering what kind of future we’re all heading toward, mentally reviewing the latest headlines, and briefly considering whether escaping to a quiet farm in the French countryside might be the most reasonable life decision available.

“Everyone thinks I’m fine… but I’m barely holding it together.”

3 am anxiety—when the mind refuses to switch off—is far more common than you might think. Many of my retreat guests arrive here carrying that exact feeling: thoughtful, caring people who simply need a break from the relentless noise and uncertainty of modern life. They don’t necessarily need therapy, or drastic life changes, or a ten-step personal transformation plan. Quite often, they simply need somewhere peaceful to step out of the storm for a day – and discover some surprisingly effective stress management strategies shared by unlikely experts.

And that is precisely what tends to happen during a day retreat here at Esprit Meraki – your temporary refuge from the escalating anxiety of modern life.

I almost cancelled because I told myself I was “too busy” to take a day off. Which, in hindsight, probably meant I needed it even more than I thought I did. This day retreat gave me something I did not realise I had lost: insight. Being around the horses felt incredibly grounding. They seemed to sense exactly when I was stressing and gently pulled me back into the present moment. I arrived feeling mentally cluttered and emotionally exhausted. I left feeling calmer, much more like myself again. Even my family noticed the difference when I got home. One day. That was all it took to feel human again. – Louisa T.

Esprit Meraki Day Retreat with Dr Margaretha Montagu and her Friesian and Falabella horses near Nogaro, less than 2 hours southeast of Bordeaux

About this Day Retreat

Who: A limited number of Day Retreat Passes are available for a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 8 people. Day Retreat Passes can be booked by couples, friends, a mother/daughter, on birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, employers for employees, or by work colleagues.

Where: Near Nogaro, less than 2 hours’ drive south-east of Bordeaux and 2 hours’ drive southwest from Toulouse

When: March to December. Morning sessions start at 10h and afternoon sessions start at 14h.

What: Download the information on this page as a pdf as an aide-memoire

How: To book, please email: margarethamontagu@gmail.com with ‘Day Retreat’ as the subject line.

This Day Retreat is for you if you feel worried, stressed, drained, exhausted and overwhelmed but don’t know what to do about it. If you were less stressed…

You would sleep through the night without your brain scheduling a 3 am meeting to review everything that went wrong in 2019 – or since the 28th of February
You would say no and actually mean it — without the guilt, without the excuses, and without spending the next three days wondering if the other person is upset with you
You would stop agreeing to take on work you don’t have time for, don’t want to do, and will absolutely resent by Thursday
You would notice when people were taking advantage of your good nature — and you’d feel quietly confident enough to decline, without it becoming a whole thing
You would have relationships that give back as much as they ask — with your partner, your family, your friends, your colleagues — because you’d have enough left in reserve to actually show up for them
You would make time for yourself without it feeling selfish, stolen, or in need of justification
You would say what you mean, in the way you mean it, to the people who need to hear it — without spending an hour beforehand rehearsing how they might react
You would simply be yourself — not the curated, capable, holding-it-all-together version, but the actual you — and that would feel like more than enough

If you were less stressed, you would be less at risk of physical and mental illnesses caused or worsened by the unrelenting and escalating stress that characterises modern life.

If I offered to introduce you to a technique or two that significantly lowers your stress levels and are easy to incorporate into your daily life, don’t need you to buy any fancy equipment, take 10-15 minutes a day and do not cost anything to put into practice?

I am sure you would.

That is why I created these unique Day Retreats based on equine-assisted mindfulness and equine-guided meditation.

What makes these Day Retreats so Effective?

Horses.

Horses are extraordinarily honest communicators. They don’t do passive aggression, they don’t say yes when they mean no, and they have never once sent a follow-up email clarifying what they really meant. Spending time with them has a way of teaching us, quietly and without a single PowerPoint slide, what clear and confident communication actually feels like in the body.

A day spent in genuine contact with them — and with yourself — will leave you with skills that no workshop, webinar, or well-intentioned self-help book has managed to give you. Specifically, it could help you:

Handle conflict more effectively — because a horse has already walked you through what staying grounded in the presence of something large and unpredictable actually feels like, and it turns out most human conflict is considerably smaller than a Friesian horse
Say no without the guilt spiral and without making excuses — horses say no with their whole body and then immediately get on with their day. Revolutionary.
Build relationships that are genuinely sustaining rather than quietly draining — because you’ll have spent a day with creatures who cannot pretend, and it recalibrates your tolerance for those who can
Connect more easily with less effort — presence is the whole game with horses, and it turns out it’s the whole game with people too
Communicate with more ease and considerably more effect — when you’ve learned to make yourself understood without words, words become surprisingly powerful
Put yourself first without abandoning the people you love — horses demonstrate this boundary with cheerful consistency and zero collateral damage
Know where your limits are, and you will hold them — not aggressively, not apologetically, just clearly. Like a horse.
Leave carrying less stress in your body than you arrived with — not suppressed stress, not rebranded stress, but stress that has been genuinely, physically released somewhere between the paddock and the Pyrenees

For the sake of clarity, there will be no horse riding during these retreats.

Everyone’s feet stay firmly on the ground.

Each day starts with a 2 to 3-hour morning session:

Evidence-based Equine-Human Interaction Morning Session

We begin with a structured briefing focused on safety protocols. This session addresses participants’ concerns about interacting with the horses and provides a clear roadmap of the day’s objectives, ensuring a grounded and informed start to the program.

Next, we do Walking Meditation with Horses, a high-impact stress-management technique. This exercise focuses on sensory grounding and rhythmic movement to lower cortisol levels. It is designed as a practical behavioral tool that can be replicated in various daily environments, such as walking to work, to maintain cognitive focus and facilitate emotional regulation.

This is followed by Emotional Regulation with Breathwork in the Presence of the Horses, using the presence of horses to facilitate biofeedback. By observing and aligning with the horse’s respiratory patterns, participants can actively modulate their own autonomic nervous system, promoting a state of physiological coherence.

The morning session concludes with a Equine-facilitated Mindfulness Session, leveraging the horse’s acute sensitivity to non-verbal cues. This session serves as a practical application of situational awareness and emotional intelligence, helping participants develop a heightened state of presence based on real-time feedback from the horses.

And is followed by a 1,5 to 2,5-hour afternoon session:

Afternoon Session: Applied Equine-Facilitated Neuro-Integration

Transition into an engaging Equine-Guided Mindfulness Meditation, where the gentle presence of the horses amplifies your connection to the present moment. Allow their intuitive wisdom to guide you into a deeper state of calm, clarity and self-awareness, fostering a unique bond that transcends words.

This structured practice designed to enhance neuro-integration and interoceptive awareness. The horses facilitate a deeper connection to your internal physiological state promoting emotional regulation and reslience.

This is followed by a longer debriefing session to discuss the experience and how to transfer learning into everyday life – and a discussion of what you have learnt and achieved — over tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits, this debriefing will employ guided reflection and cognitive restructuring techniques to analyse what you have learned. The focus will be on developing actionable strategies to help you use the self-regulation skills you have discovered, thereby maximising their therapeutic effectiveness and increasing the long-term impact of the session.

“This was an absolutely amazing experience. Life-changing, totally. Due to a seriously unfortunate experience with horses in my childhood, horses scared me witless. Today I not only overcame that fear, I learned how to gently defend my boundaries against humongous Friesian horses. After this, no one is ever going to make me do anything that I am not 100% committed to do. The meditation sessions were out of this world. I have meditated before, but never like this. An unforgettable experience that I very highly recommend.” S. Bradshaw

You might well walk away from this day retreat feeling more alive, energised and positive about your future and about life in general than you’ve felt in years.

Cost

Option 1 Morning or afternoon attendance 55€ pp
Option 2 Morning,and afternoon attendance 99€ pp – please bring a light picnic lunch if you’re attending both sessions

You could continue to try to figure this out on your own. You can keep on desperately trying each new stress-busting or confidence-boosting method that appears on the horizon for the next two, five, ten or twenty years.

Or you could contact me to discuss the possibility of attending an Esprit Meraki day retreat.

If you would like to attend a Day Retreat, please send an email to margarethamontagu(at)gmail.com, with ‘Day Retreat’ as its heading.

Include your name, your age, the size of your group and a little bit about why you are interested in my Day Retreats
Give me an indication of when you would like to attend one of these day retreats – they are usually scheduled on Fridays, but I’m flexible.

I look forward to hearing from you and even more to introducing you to the horses – they love our day retreats!

All the best for now,
Margaretha

About Dr Margaretha Montagu

Qualifications

Dr Montagu (MBChB, MRCGP, master NLP cert, Med Hyp Dip, Prof Life Coach Cert and EAGALA cert level 2) is an experienced medical doctor, medical hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner and an equine-assisted life coach (EAGALA cert level II). She has worked in a variety of medical disciplines, including Psychiatry. She worked in Jersey, in the Channel Islands for 12 years, 8 and a half of these years as a General Practitioner. Dr Montagu has retired from medical practice and now shares what she has learned through workshops and public speaking in the UK, France, Holland, Belgium and South Africa and during her residential Esprit Meraki Retreats.

Approach

In spite of these qualifications, Dr Montagu is a very down-to-earth person who has a warm, personal, active and non-judgmental approach to problem-solving. She will help you address your problems with highly structured, solution-oriented techniques with the assistance of her horses (the “real therapists” as she calls them), and she will treat you with as much respect, dignity and compassion as she treats her horses.

Experience

Dr Montagu has had extensive experience with a variety of individuals covering a wide panorama of disciplines, age, education, ethnic and cultural heritage. Her frequent attendance at professional conventions and participation in continuing education classes and seminars has greatly expanded her repertoire of therapeutic techniques. When working with clients, she draws from many modalities, including Cognitive/Behavioural Therapy, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy, Positive Psychology, Short-term Solution-Focused Therapy, Equine-assisted Experiential Learning and NLP.

Dr Montagu’s approach to equine-assisted experiential learning emphasises self-exploration and self-revelation, promoting understanding, recognition, respect, better communication and appreciation of others.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I need any experience with horses to attend?

No experience whatsoever is needed. The retreat is specifically designed for people who have little or no background with horses. Dr Montagu begins each session with a thorough briefing so that all participants feel informed and at ease before any interaction takes place. Even guests who have had frightening experiences with horses in the past have found the sessions transformative — as one guest put it, she arrived terrified and left having learned to set firm boundaries with two large Friesian horses.

2. Will I be riding the horses?

No. There is no horse riding at any point during the day retreat. All activities take place on the ground, with everyone’s feet firmly planted. The work is about connection, presence and mindfulness — not horsemanship.

3. How many people can attend a Day Retreat?

Day Retreats are available for a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 8 people. This small group size is intentional — it allows for a genuinely personal experience and ensures that each participant receives meaningful time with both the horses and Dr Montagu.

4. Who is the Day Retreat suitable for?

The retreat is designed for anyone feeling worried, stressed, overwhelmed, drained or anxious — but who doesn’t necessarily need therapy or formal intervention. It’s particularly suited to people who struggle to switch off, find it hard to say no, feel their relationships are more draining than sustaining, or simply need a peaceful day away from the noise of modern life. Groups might include couples, friends, colleagues, or family members such as a mother and daughter.

5. What does a typical day look like?

The day is divided into two sessions. The morning session (2–3 hours) includes a briefing, a walking meditation with the horses, an equine-facilitated mindfulness session, and a group debrief. The afternoon session (1-2 hours) includes an equine-guided mindfulness meditation followed by a relaxed discussion over tea, coffee, hot chocolate and pastries. If you choose Option 2, a picnic lunch is included between the two sessions.

6. What are the pricing options?

There are two options: Option 1 covers either the morning or the afternoon session and is priced at 75€ per person. Option 2 covers the full day — morning session, picnic lunch, and afternoon session — at 149€ per person.

7. What will I actually take away from the retreat?

Dr Montagu introduces practical stress-reduction techniques that take just 10–15 minutes a day, require no equipment, and cost nothing to maintain. These include mindfulness and meditation methods drawn directly from working with the horses. Guests typically report leaving feeling more grounded, more confident in setting boundaries, and better equipped to manage stress in their everyday lives.

8. Who leads the retreat, and what are her qualifications?

The retreat is led by Dr Margaretha Montagu, a retired medical doctor (MBChB, MRCGP) with additional qualifications in medical hypnotherapy, NLP (master practitioner), professional life coaching, and equine-assisted learning (EAGALA certified, level 2). She has a background in Psychiatry and worked as a General Practitioner in Jersey for over eight years. She is described by guests as warm, practical and deeply non-judgmental.

9. Where does the retreat take place?

The retreat takes place at Esprit Meraki, Dr Montagu’s property in the foothills of the French Pyrénées Mountains. The setting is rural and peaceful, deliberately chosen as a contrast to the stress and noise of everyday modern life.

10. How do I book, and when are retreats available?

To book, send an email to margarethamontagu@gmail.com with ‘Day Retreat’ as the subject line. Include your name, age, group size, a brief note about why you’re interested, and your preferred dates. Day Retreats are usually held on Fridays, though Dr Montagu is flexible and happy to discuss alternative arrangements.

Ready to step away from the storm?

Email: margarethamontagu@gmail.com — Subject: ‘Day Retreat’

Download the information on this page as a pdf as an aide-memoire

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