Hi, Susan.
No, a bad odor is NOT normal. Return them for a refund. I've had Vitamin E capsules stored too long and they expired. They had a bad odor. You should smell nothing more than a faint vitamin odor I always associate with kids' vitamins. Make sure the gel caps contain oil.

Ignore the Vitamin E in CA Trace. Add the full amount of Vitamin E from capsules containing oil.  The number of capsules depends on their potency, whether 400 IU or 1000 IU, and the weight of your horse. You want to give a minimum of 1000 IU Vitamin E per 500 lbs body weight. So for a 1000 pound horse, give 2000 IU of Vitamin E/day, which is 2 gel caps of 1000 IU Vit. E or 5 gel caps of 400 IU Vit. E.  FWIW, my fussy mare dislikes the larger 1000 IU gel caps and easily eats the 400 IU capsules.
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Cass, Sonoma Co., CA 2012
ECIR Group Moderator
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