When the player has control of a rideable mob (such as guiding a pig with a carrot on a stick), the mob receives the levitation effect, and control is lost (such as by unequipping the carrot on a stick) while the levitation effect is still active, the effect will tick down as normal and the mob will eventually stop levitating. However, regaining control of the mob (in this scenario, re-equipping the carrot on a stick) will cause the entity to resume its upward trajectory indefinitely, even after the effect has been removed.

Briefly re-applying and removing the levitation effect seems to "remind" the entity, Looney Tunes-style, that the laws of gravity are still very much in effect, returning it swiftly to the ground below (provided the aforementioned chain of events does not occur in the process.)