G'day Dave,
I've just been through this process and the advice received by neighbours and the good people of Tractorbynet went a long way to getting my own tractor. I too have a small 6 acre horse property. I went with a John Deere due to their local reputation, both in sales and (more importantly) support after you buy. Your neighbours (+ the 'word in the Pub') will have their own bias but generally won't stear you wrong.
If you can, include one of these neighbours when you go to the dealership... they'll be able to nod/shake-their-head at what's offered by the dealer. (hit the dealer up for an extra hat as part of the deal)
You've already put thought towards what you want to
initially do with your rig. Good, that's a start. The adage expressed by everyone on this site is (if you can afford it) to get a horsepower one step up from what you reckon you need. I started out thinking about the JD 2720... which, with all of the attachments available, would be able to handle everything I could think of for a small property. At the dealership (with a friend along) we then bumped it up to the 3032E = more power and a larger selection of implements as it was a full Cat 1 Compact Utillity Tractor (CUT). The new CUT's now come in 'automatic' HST, so there's no gear shifting to be done.
Everything runs off of a couple of hydraulic systems.
Then the price came up (which you can only see once you're at the dealership) and I was shown that the 4105 was less expensive! Just because it didn't have all of the fancy/pretty things (cruise control, anti-vibration deck, etc...) and it lacked a mid PTO. Mind you, there are a very limited number of implements that attach to a mid PTO. The mower deck is one of them but you can get a perfectly good rear PTO slasher or mower that does the same thing. Don't be dazzled be the goodies on offer, get what you need.
You will need a Front End Loader (FEL). Be warned that this is just the arms and a standard bucket... the implements that attach to it are another expense. I would recommend that your FEL be upgraded to operate a 4in1 bucket. Another FEL attachment you'll need will be a forklift/bale-spike combination. Comments on this site have said that they usually keep this attachment on most of the time!
Tyre wise, I went with the R4. There are turf tyres and a half'n'half tread tyre available. I would discuss this with your dealer.
Definately invest in a chain-harrow to drag your paddocks to work in the horse manure (horses are VERY good at producing manure :laughing
. These harrows come in sections that can be added/removed or the whole thing can be flipped over to do a number of different tasks, such as dragging your arena. A rotary tiller for improving your paddocks is a suggestion too.
That's my advice for your
initial purchase. You'll get more implements as you need them, but that's for the future.
Best of luck and keep us posted,
Randy