EXHIBIT 31.1

Form of Quarterly Certification Required

by Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14 under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934

I, John A. Hardy, certify that:



|1. |  | I
have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Equus Total Return, Inc.;
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|2. |  | Based
on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit
to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;
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|3. |  | Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this quarterly
report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;
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|4. |  | The
registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
and we have:
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|a. |  | Designed
such disclosure controls and procedures. or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its
consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;
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|b. |  | Designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting
to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial
reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external purposes in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles;
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|c. |  | Evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this
report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end
of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
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|d. |  | Disclosed
in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred
during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s first fiscal quarter
in the case of a quarterly report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting, and;
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|5. |  | The
registrant’s other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation
of the internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee
of registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):
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|a. |  | All
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal controls over
financial reporting, which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to
record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
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|b. |  | Any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role
in the registrant’s internal controls.
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Date: May 16, 2011



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|/s/ John A. Hardy 
|John A. Hardy     
|Executive Chairman