Used Exmark, SCAG

OR..

A Gravely if you can find one. Or a Hustler.  

The dealer is more important than the brand, as long as you are going with a solid brand.

So....there is a learning curve with a Zero Turn mower.  You should expect this learning curve.  For me, that included how "shallow" a ditch needed to be so I wouldn't bottom out the deck in the ditch if I crossed it.  

Unless it is so steep that it's dangerous to ride sideways, that's what I suggest a person ALWAYS do.   Remember, it's the deck that will hang, usually.  The deck on a tractor will hang as well.   With your flat yard, and obstacles, the ZTR is going to cut your mow time in half, or better.  If speed is what you want, get the ZTR and plan for the learning curve.

With regard to sliding down hills with no steering:

Yes, that can happen.  Once you KNOW that, you accommodate for that limitation.  On a large hill, you go slowly and have a way "out"--don't go driving like a madman down a hill with a fence at the bottom.   This effect is worse when the ground is wet, by the way.  

If you have hills, your mower should have a roll bar.  And a seat belt.  If the bar is up, the belt is on.  

IN the words of Lee Majors,The Six Million Dollar Man which I remember from (I think) the 1970s, "There's only one way down a hill.  Straight Down."

Unless you have steep slopes, I would just not worry about this.  You aren't mowing for money, so once you learn your property, it will be easy peasy.

Ways to get the mower out.

1-purchase a very dangerous farm jack/bumper jack to lift the back end of the thing and have something available that you can shove under the rear tires enough that the mower can roll past the hang point. (This is what I do.  I carry a few pieces of old scrap wood in the back of my truck since I'm on many different properties.)

2-hook a tow strap to your truck and drag the mower out of the ditch (since your main "hang-up" spot is by the road, it sounds like, this might be easiest for you.)

3-Get a battery-operated handheld portable winch. (These things are on my wish list.  I want one so bad. ) Hook to an immovable object.

4-Call a couple of buddies and have them bounce you out as you drive (dangerous, but the most fun cuz...a reason for beer afterward.)

The tractors I've had were lighter than the ZTRs, and tended to get stuck more easily, but were also easier for me to personally push out of a ditch by myself (I'm a five-foot female). Still not fun.

I would never, never NEVER go back to a tractor-type mower,  for any reason that I can think of right now, anyhow.  

Life's too short to spend three hours cutting grass that I can cut in an hour.  But that's just me.



ETA:   When you purchase your mower, get the dealer to take you outside with it and give you some lessons on driving it.  I'm assuming you are having it delivered, and not taking it home on your own trailer.  If you ARE taking it home on your own trailer, get a buddy to go with you who knows how to run one.  The time that you will die, is getting it off the trailer the first time when you don't know how to operate it.  If you've never driven a ZTR-type machine before, you are likely to die trying to back it off a trailer, UNLESS you drove a tank. (uxb said, watching me on mine, that I would have been a good tank operator.  Apparently this is how tanks are controlled. If you were in an Armor division, I'm guessing you're good. )    Anyhow....within three mows, the mower will become part of you.  Your mind will be what controls it, it's so easy and intuitive.    BUT....not til you practice a little bit.

ETA2:  Whatever choice you make for how you plan to get your mower out of a ditch, BUY THAT CHOICE NOW.  Like...have it.  Because when you need it, it should already be there.  I cannot tell you how much cursing was avoided because I planned in advance, for problems. (Hit an old axle, buried and partially sticking up out of the ground on a friend's property?  Destroy your blades?  Yup, got extra blades in the truck (AND a battery impact wrench with a socket that fits my mower blade attachment thingy (bolt? nut? whatsis? yeah) WIN!    Hit the edge of a tarp hidden in high grass, wrap it around your spindles and shut down your deck?  Got a trailer jack (which fits an attachment on the front of my exmark) and two jackstands in the truck.  Crank the front of the mower into the air, shove the jackstands under the frame, crawl under there with my sacrificial Leatherman tool, and cut that shit out of the spindles.  Fifteen minutes later, I'm mowing again.

I just cannot say enough about having all the crap for what is likely to happen to a mower.  If you have it, your day goes on just fine.  If not, your day stops, and if it's about to rain, that just sucks.

HaHA!!!

Yeah.

Although, if you are loading a mower on a trailer, and you have the skill to do that kind of tight fit, it ain't your first rodeo.



Or...maybe you are magical.

So..I added a big edit at the end.  Since you endorsed the post, I feel I should @ you so you can take that back if you disagree.

@mPisi