I did this one a bit differently. For the 3rd row, I did hdc in back loop (not the “3rd” loop as called for in the pattern). I also made the long braid a bit shorter, only chaining 80 instead of the 86 called for. Then for the tabs on the ends, for the short braid, I did rows 4-10 and for the long braid, I did rows 4-12.
This short braid, after the tabs were put on, was 20.5” longs. The long braid was 25” long.