Putting the Cart Before the Horse

Lest any readers are scared off, thinking all my posts will be serious, or political, here's another thing that has worked its way through my head:

Most people have heard the phrase "That's putting the cart before the horse."

It means, of course, not having your priorities in order. But why does it mean that?

For a long time, I used to see it literally. The cart was in front of the horse so it had to be pushed rather than pulled. It is backwards, but a little silly.

 

Then I got older and tried to see it in a context of priorities. If you buy a cart before you have a horse, it's just going to sit there and take up room until you get a horse that can pull it. If you buy a horse first, at least you can ride it while you are saving up more money to buy a cart.

Recently I was thinking about language shifts and came back to this old saying. Then I had an "a-ha" moment. What if "putting the cart before the horse" means taking care of the cart first. If you put all your energy and time into repairing and maintaining the cart, and ignore the horse, the horse is gonna die. The cart can wait for a long time. Horses, not so much.*

So now that I have confessed this in a public, though as of yet unread, forum... Do most people understand this one automatically? Or have I just put too much thought into it?

*I can't think about caring for horses without remembering Black Beauty getting colic from drinking cold water given to him by an inexperience stable boy.