A BRICK-LAYING student who spends her spare time rehabilitating rescue horses is not the most typical of beauty pageant contestants.

But next month, Krysta Moody will swap her hard hat and jodhpurs for a ballgown and fake nails to take part in this year’s Miss York competition.

The 20-year-old is a student in one of the most male-dominated trades around – but ever since her grandmother entered her into Miss York in 2007, Krysta has had her sights set on becoming a beauty queen.

“When I’m out with the horses I end up caked in mud and when I’m doing brick-laying I end up caked in cement,” she said.

“I love what I do, but I’m also looking forward to getting glammed up for a change.

“Taking part in Miss York is a great day-out and if you win, there’s the chance to represent York for a year, which would be absolutely amazing.”

Krysta, who is in her second year of a construction and trowel occupations course at York College, hopes to start a degree course at Askham Bryan College in rural business next year. She also helps her mother to run a charity for horses that need rehabilitation.

“We have everything from temperamental stallions to ex-racehorses and gipsy ponies,” she said.

“Some of them have been badly treated, but some are just misunderstood horses with quirky characters that people can’t deal with.

“If we can, we will re-home them, but often they stay with us for the rest of their lives.”

Krysta, who has been riding horses since she was two, is planning a sponsored endurance ride to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in honour of one of last year’s finalists, Emma Young, of Pickering, who suffers from the condition.

Entries for Miss York 2009 are still open – with organisers looking for girls aged 17 to 24 to follow in the footsteps of York’s very own former Miss England – Georgia Horsley.

The semi-finals for this year’s title are on Sunday, February 22, at The Royal York Hotel and the final will be at the hotel on Sunday, April 5. The closing date for entries is February 16.

For more information, visit www.eventsconnect.co.uk/missengland