>>719111580
The only justification I can come up with is that they didn't want to imply that he/his species literally only exist to be ridden. Or they wanted some consistency with Koopas, although really they stick a shell on anything and say it's part of their body and not a uniform. That being said, imagine if it was the opposite: Yoshi kept his saddle but it's normal for it *not* to be there.