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: August 15, 2011



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|/s/ John A. Hardy      
|John A. Hardy          
|Chief Executive Officer