Saddled pig cannot be steered with Carrot on a Stick

Clicking a carrot on a stick whilst riding a saddled Pig will consume durability, but upon reselecting the item in the player's inventory, the durability goes all the way back up to full again.

This leads me to believe that the Carrot on a Stick is not actually being consumed by the Pig, and is impossible to control / steer because of this.